Friedrich Merz: Meet the Most Unpopular Chancellor in Modern German History

Germany’s economic decline is no longer merely an economic story. It has become a political one. Chancellor Friedrich Merz has become the focal point of this broader crisis of governance and legitimacy.

At the center of this storm stands Chancellor Friedrich Merz, whose government has become the most unpopular in modern German history.

The scale of the collapse is impressive. By May 2026, according to a Forsa poll for RTL/ntv, Merz’s approval ratings had fallen to 13 percent, while disapproval ranged from 76 to 87 percent. His CDU/CSU-SPD coalition performed worse, with approval ratings at 11 percent.

Yet Merz’s unpopularity is not the consequence of a single scandal or political mistake. Rather, it reflects a broader perception that Germany’s governing elites have lost the capacity to respond to the country’s structural challenges.

The German economy has struggled for several years, more specifically since the cutoff of cheap gas from Russia. Once celebrated for its industrial strength and export-driven model, Germany now faces slow growth, declining competitiveness, rising energy costs, and increasing competition from China. Economic forecasts continue to be revised downward – the latest was to 0.5% growth in 2026 – while deindustrialization has become a mainstream political concern.

The country remains heavily dependent on an economic model built during a different phase of globalization, which benefited from incredible advantages that equipped and modernized Eastern European economies after the fall of the Soviet Union with EU financing but is increasingly unsuited to contemporary geopolitical realities. No adjournment or trajectory correction seems to be possible to implement.

One year ago, Merz entered office promising economic renewal. He presented himself as a competent manager capable of restoring confidence and growth after years of uncertainty. Instead, many Germans see a widening gap between rhetoric and results. Inflation remains a concern, purchasing power is squeezed, and industrial sectors that once formed the backbone of the German economy struggle to adapt.

Manufacturing has been the cornerstone of the German economy. It reached its post-reunification peak in 1991, when manufacturing accounted........

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