A survey conducted by the polling institute Forsa revealed in August that 79 percent of respondents view the economic situation as one of the country’s top three problems. This finding was reported by the broadcasters RTL and ntv, who commissioned the survey for their “Trendbarometer.”
Politicians and political parties were cited as the second most frequent concern, mentioned by 50 percent of respondents. There is a notable difference between the regions, with this proportion being significantly higher in Eastern Germany at 56 percent compared to 46 percent in the West. Social security systems are also viewed as a major issue by 42 percent of people, marking a nine percentage point increase from the survey conducted in May.
The issues of immigration and foreigners were cited by 17 percent of people, a slight drop from 19 percent in May. Regional differences here are negligible, with 16 percent in the East and 17 percent in the West listing it as a serious problem. Other commonly cited concerns include right-wing extremism and the AfD party at 14 percent, the education system at 11 percent, and global wars, environmental protection, and climate change, all cited by 10 percent.
Problem priorities vary significantly depending on a person’s party affiliation. Economic performance is emphasized most strongly by supporters of the Union party (81 percent) and the SPD (72 percent), while being mentioned less frequently by Greens supporters (63 percent) and members of the Left party (57 percent). Among Left party supporters, social security systems are a particularly central concern, with 60 percent identifying them as one of Germany’s three greatest problems.
Regarding climate and environmental protection, Greens supporters are the most likely to raise the issue, with 28 percent citing it as a concern. This is followed by Left party supporters at 14 percent, SPD supporters at 12 percent, and Union supporters at 7 percent.
The concerns of AfD supporters starkly deviate from the general public. An overwhelming 98 percent of AfD supporters ranked the economic situation as one of the three greatest problems in Germany-a margin of 19 percentage points higher than the general average. For them, politicians and parties were the second highest concern (59 percent), followed by immigration and foreigners at a third-place ranking of 45 percent. Crucially, AfD supporters name immigration almost three times as frequently as the overall population (17 percent).
The survey was conducted in August, polling 2,302 eligible voters.
