10%: Merz Sets Record Low as Germany's Most Unpopular Chancellor
October 2, 2026 · Frisian News
Photo: Wikimedia Commons
Only 10% of Germans say they are satisfied with Chancellor Friedrich Merz, the lowest approval rating recorded for any sitting chancellor since the ARD Deutschlandtrend began in 1997. The CDU/CSU now polls seven points below the AfD in the same survey.
Ten percent. That is how many Germans told the ARD Deutschlandtrend they are satisfied or very satisfied with Chancellor Friedrich Merz, the lowest approval figure recorded for any sitting German chancellor since the survey series began in 1997, as the WDR reported.
Infratest dimap conducted the poll between 28 and 30 September, surveying 1,303 eligible voters aged 18 and over by telephone and online. The survey is representative, with a statistical margin of error of around two percentage points at the 10% level, as Berliner-Zeitung noted. Eighty-eight percent of respondents said they are less satisfied or not at all satisfied with the chancellor. As recently as early September, the same series placed Merz at 13%.
The chancellor does not carry this collapse alone. The ARD Deutschlandtrend also records 10% satisfaction with the federal government as a whole, the CDU/CSU and SPD coalition. Eighty-nine percent rate the government's performance negatively. ARD describes both readings as historic lows in the series.
The gap between Merz and his own cabinet ministers is wide. Defence Minister Boris Pistorius, an SPD politician, scores 50% satisfaction in the same Infratest dimap poll. Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul of the CDU reaches 34%, and Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt of the CSU 27%. Finance Minister Lars Klingbeil stands at 20% and Labour Minister Bärbel Bas at 17%. The chancellor, at 10%, trails every named member of his own government.
The voting intention figures compound the difficulty. If a Bundestag election were held this Sunday, CDU and CSU would take 20% combined, one point lower than early September. Berliner-Zeitung notes the Union has reached that level only once before in the ARD Deutschlandtrend, in September 2021. The AfD sits at 27%, unchanged. The Greens score 16%, the SPD 13%, and the Linke 11%. The FDP, at 4%, stays below the five-percent parliamentary threshold.
The same poll also covered the cost of living. Seventy-seven percent of respondents told Infratest dimap they feel increasing financial burdens even though the government promised relief. Around one in two said they worry about maintaining their current standard of living. Only 17% trust the government to make social insurance systems financially viable for the future. On energy prices, 74% consider the government's measures insufficient, Berliner-Zeitung reported.
The CDU/CSU governs alongside the SPD, holding the chancellorship and several senior ministries. The Deutschlandtrend now shows those governing parties polling seven points below the AfD, a chancellor who cannot persuade nine in ten citizens he is doing his job, and a public that has stopped believing the government's promises on costs and welfare.
Published October 2, 2026 · Frisian News