Poll: Most Germans expect Merz coalition to collapse early
Only 23% of voters believe Chancellor Friedrich Merz's conservative-SPD coalition will last until the 2029 election, a YouGov survey for dpa shows.
Archive image · Photo: Steffen Prößdorf / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped and resized)
Most Germans expect Chancellor Friedrich Merz's coalition to fall apart before its term ends, a YouGov poll for the dpa news agency showed. Only 23% of the 2,202 eligible voters surveyed said the alliance of Merz's conservative Union bloc and the Social Democrats would survive until the next federal election, due in early 2029. Thirteen percent expect a break-up this year and 44% within the following two years. Twenty percent gave no answer.
Doubts run deep among the parties' own supporters. Fifty-three percent of Union voters expect an early end, against 32% who think the coalition will last. Among Social Democrat voters the split is 46% to 34%.
The coalition has been in crisis since state elections in September, in which both partners suffered heavy losses and the far-right AfD made clear gains. Disputes over a reform package, the budget and how to deal with the Left Party and the AfD have strained the alliance since.