Merkel Fails to Translate Drop in Refugees Into Greater Backing
- Country expecting 250,000-300,000 asylum seekers in 2016
- Half of Germans don’t want Merkel to serve a fourth term
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German Chancellor Angela Merkel is failing to translate a significant drop in new refugee arrivals into greater backing from the general public.
The head of the agency responsible for asylum seekers, Frank-Juergen Weise, told Bild am Sonntag that he expects 250,000-300,000 refugees to arrive this year, well below last year’s 1 million. Nonetheless, a poll released Sunday by the newspaper showed 50 percent of voters don’t want Merkel to serve a fourth term, up from 48 percent last November at the height of the crisis. According to the Emnid poll conducted on Aug. 25, 42 percent are in favor.