Some 47% of people in Germany would like to see an end to the current governing coalition of Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s conservative bloc and the centre-left Social Democrats (SPD), a survey has shown.

The YouGov survey conducted for the weekly Welt am Sonntag showed that 38% would like new elections after the coalition’s dissolution, while 9% would want a minority government of Merz’s Christian Democrats (CDU) and the Bavarian Christian Social Union (CSU) to stay at the helm.

Altogether, 30% of respondents are in favour of the coalition continuing, with 24% undecided or responding with ‘don’t know’.

The survey shows a divide in popularity ratings for the coalition between eastern and western German states, with 46% of people in eastern Germany wanting its end as compared with 35% in western Germany.

Just 22% in eastern Germany wanted the coalition, which took office in May last year, to stay on, compared with 31% in western Germany.

Merz, who himself has received popularity ratings as low as 16% in recent polls, admitted on Friday that the coalition could do with fewer internal disputes.

“Maybe we are currently fighting a bit too much and are not delivering enough results. That may be possible,” he told an audience at the 104th German Catholic Day in the southern city of Würzburg.

Merz’s government have struggled to find common ground on a number of issues, including on social security and labour reforms, energy policy and, most recently, ways to cushion consumers from spiralling costs due to the Iran war.

DW