Merkel's Approval Falls to Lowest Since 2011 on Refugees: Chart
Angela Merkel, Germany's chancellor, speaks during a news conference at the Chancellery in Berlin, Germany, on Monday, Feb. 1, 2016. Merkel won time to reach a Europewide solution to the region's refugee crisis after securing a deal to defuse a spat with her coalition partners that threatened her chancellorship.
Photographer: Krisztian Bocsi/BloombergGerman Chancellor Angela Merkel’s approval rating declined to 46 percent, the lowest in more than four years, as eight of 10 respondents say the government has lost control of the refugee crisis, according to an Infratest poll for ARD television. While it’s not the first time Merkel’s rating has dropped below 50 percent during a decade as chancellor marked by a rocky start and Europe’s debt crisis, she’s losing her popularity bonus over the government as a whole -- the advantage helped her win three German elections. The next national vote is due in 2017.