The Merkel Debacle...

Merkel support rating drops sharply after wave of attacks – poll

The number of Germans supporting Chancellor Angela Merkel and her policies is growing smaller by the day, according to a new survey conducted in the wake of the series of attacks that shocked Germany in July.

Just under half – 47 percent – of Germans surveyed rated Merkel’s work as satisfactory by the end of July, down 12 percentage points on the June figure of 59 percent, according to DeutschlandTrend (Germany Trend), a representative survey by the polling institute Infratest dimap conducted on behalf of German broadcaster ARD.

The pollster surveyed 1,003 German citizens of voting-age on August 1-2. Two-thirds of respondents said they disagreed with Merkel’s asylum policies ‘in general,’ as the poll did not allow for specific reasons to be given. Around a third – 34 percent – claimed the refugee crisis was being handled properly, the lowest level of support for Merkel’s open-door policy since the issue appeared in polls almost a year ago.

The survey was conducted after five assaults shocked Germany in just over a week in July. Three were committed by asylum seekers, with two of those being investigated for links to Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL).