According to a survey by YouGov pollster published on Friday and cited by the German news magazine Focus, 43 percent of Germans would prefer Chancellor Angela Merkel to leave office.
The survey also revealed that a little over 42 percent of those polled want Merkel to continue to head the government, however, 15 percent were neutral.
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Merkel has been found most popular with those backing the environmentalist Green Party: the lion’s share of them (two thirds) agreed that Merkel should stay in office, whereas she appeared to be by far least supported by right-wing forces’ voters, namely supporters of right-wing Alternative for Germany (AfD). In particular, only six percent of them want Merkel to stay in power.
Separately, supporters of the conservative Union, which essentially comprises Merkel’s Christian Democrats (CDU) and the Bavarian Christian Social Union (CSU), appeared slightly divided on the issue, with 63 percent backing the Chancellor, while another 27 percent would prefer her to leave the post. Also, half of German citizens think that the governmental coalition currently in office will not hold until the next elections slated for 2021.
Merkel is currently deeply engulfed in a power clash with the CSU over the immigration issue and border controls, which is threatening to virtually split her coalition just several months after it was established.
German Interior Minister Horst Seehofer, who also leads the CSU, proposes to send migrants away at the German border if they had already been refused asylum, while Merkel is seeking to opt for a universal solution for the EU’s migration crisis and reach deals with Italy and Greece among others.