The public broadcaster ZDF’s Politbarometer survey, conducted this week, found that Merkel’s approval rating dropped to 1.0 from 1.4 on the scale between +5 and —5 since late July.
The survey ranked Germany’s top lawmakers according to how well they would fare if the federal general election, planned for 2017, took place this Sunday.
The poll also showed that 52 percent of Germans had a negative view of the chancellor’s handling of the migrant crisis, when some 1.1 million refugees arrived in the country last year. Fifty-four percent said that they believe the Berlin-spearheaded EU deal with Turkey to curb the inflow of migrants to Europe would fail.
A significant majority, 72 percent of respondents, said they would approve of deploying federal armed forces in the event of a new terrorist attack in Germany, after a spate of killings in its south last month.
