Olaf Scholz may be the most unpopular German Chancellor in many decades, but that does not keep him from being ‘sure’ that he can win reelection a year from now.
Delusional Scholz shrugs off the very negative polling figures and predicts that he will lead his Social Democratic Party (SPD) to a second term in office, in the elections set for September next year.
To Berlin’s Tagesspiegel newspaper, he declared that he was ‘firmly banking on the SPD and me gaining a mandate that will be strong enough for us to lead the next government.’
Tagesspiel reported:
“[Question] Chancellor, are you still the right person to serve Germany?
[Scholz] Of course. The federal government has mastered major crises, especially after Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine. We have ensured that homes remain warm and industry can continue to produce. We have spent more than 300 billion euros to ensure that neither citizens nor companies are overwhelmed by the rapidly rising energy prices. Energy prices have since fallen. Inflation is back below two percent.”
This bold prediction comes despite his dismal polling figures, the poor results for the SPD in the June elections to the European Parliament and – this month – a catastrophic performance in two German state elections that saw right winger of AfD surging.
DPA reported:
“‘Governing is not getting any easier, so we should do it’, Scholz said, setting out the aim of a coalition led by the SPD.”
Scholz predicts that the election ‘would turn on character and integrity’ – and he thinks that’s a good thing for him.
“‘For the SPD and me, it is important to put forward pragmatic and realistic proposals on how Germany can truly make progress,’ he said.”
He argues that a key potential challenger within the SPD, Defence Minister Boris Pistorius, is backing him as the candidate for the chancellorship.
But the people do not seem to agree. After the latest deadly knife attack – carried out by a Syrian Islamist living in Germany as a refugee awaiting deportation – public opinion has become very focused.
Deutche Welle reported:
“In the Deutschlandtrend survey on public broadcaster ARD, 77% of the 1309 eligible voters polled answered yes to the question: ‘Do we need a fundamentally different asylum and refugee policy so that fewer people come to us?’
Almost three-quarters said they are in favor of introducing permanent controls at German borders, and 72% are in favor of extending the powers of the security authorities, for example, allowing them to access electronic communications such as chats.”
48% of respondents think that refugees and immigration are currently the most important political issue – 22 percentage points more than in April of this year.
Scholz’s three governing parties are seen as way less able to manage immigration than their conservative competitors.
And no less than 84% of respondents say they are less or not at all satisfied with the federal government’s work. This is the highest figure since the government took office at the end of 2021.
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