At the end of the Merkel legislature, the Yougov Institute asked about the popularity of leading politicians. The result of the German Chancellor is impressive.
With the upcoming general election on September 26th, an era is coming to an end. Angela Merkel, who is no longer running for office after almost 16 years as Federal Chancellor, was the first woman to head Germany and shaped an entire generation. Who will follow her will be decided in just a few weeks. According to the RTL / ntv trend barometer, Merkel is currently the most popular politician in Germany, her potential successors Annalena Baerbock, Armin Laschet and Olaf Scholz cannot boast this popularity among the population at the moment.
However, Merkel has not caused negative headlines in recent years with copied passages in books or laughter at the wrong moment. Despite numerous conflicts and crises, most recently the pandemic and the withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan, her administration was characterized by objectivity and seriousness. Merkel has revealed little about her private life over the years. And yet she has earned a reputation that extends beyond the borders of Germany – and that the Chancellor has positive memories of, like that.
Merkel is the most popular of all influential politicians
1000 citizens in six European countries and the United States were asked about eight different presidents and rulers, including Merkel, Emmanuel Macron, Boris Johnson and Vladimir Putin. According to the results, the German Chancellor is the most popular among the most influential politicians. US President Joe Biden follows in second place, Canadian President Justin Trudeau in third place. In the last two places are the Russian ruler Vladimir Putin and the Chinese head of state Xi Jingping.
The Chancellor received the highest popularity ratings in Spain (61 points) and France (49 points). She gets only 15 points from Great Britain. According to the study, Merkel owes her great popularity to the other presidents above all to the German economy, which has grown by 17 percent since the beginning of her term in office in 2005 and is rated extremely positively by the respondents in all six countries. The Chancellor is also recognized for her ability to improve Germany’s international reputation. There is also positive feedback for combating climate change and the corona pandemic.
“Most important leader of the free world”
On the other hand, points are deducted for migration, the refugee crisis and the financial crisis in Greece. There are also minus points for the Brexit negotiations, but mainly from the British themselves.
In 2017 Hillary Clinton referred to Angela Merkel as “”. In the previous five years, Merkel was twice named the second most influential person by the business magazine “Forbes”. The Yougov study shows something similar. Germans, French, Italians and Spaniards see the German Chancellor among the top five most influential politicians. On average, it ranks third.
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