Only two percent of Germans believe that the relief measures planned by the federal government will improve their own financial situation. At the same time, nine percent say that they definitely want to take part in protests.
For the RTL and ntv trend barometer, Forsa collected data on how the relief measures planned by the federal government were received by Germans. One result: 50 percent of Germans believe that the federal government’s relief measures also help those in mainstream society who are in normal employment. 35 percent have the impression that the relief measures – as is sometimes criticized – primarily benefit smaller fringe groups of the population.
However, only 2 percent of Germans believe that their own financial situation will improve significantly as a result of the government’s relief measures. 24 percent – most likely the supporters of the three traffic light parties – assume that the measures will improve their financial situation somewhat. On the other hand, 71 percent – across all income groups – expect that their financial situation will hardly improve at all.
Only 7 percent of Germans state that their trust in politics and politicians has increased during the energy crisis than at the beginning of the Corona crisis. For 44 percent, on the other hand, their trust in politics and politicians has fallen. 49 percent say their trust has not changed.
Some expect that there could be more protests from citizens in the coming weeks given the bottlenecks in the energy supply and rising prices. Despite the current displeasure with politics, the vast majority of three quarters of Germans (76 percent) have not even thought about taking part in such protests.
24 percent have already thought about participating in possible protests. In any case, according to their own statements, 9 percent of all respondents want to take part in possible protests. With this value, however, it should be noted that experience has shown that only some of those who state this in surveys actually take part in protests.
The only group that in the majority has thought about taking part in protests against the energy crisis and rising prices are AfD supporters (56 percent). They also most frequently express the intention to “definitely” (30 percent) want to take part in possible protests.
The willingness to fundamentally change one’s own voting behavior is currently even less pronounced than the willingness to take part in protests. Of all eligible voters who are not currently voting for the AfD, a total of 3 percent say they want to vote for this party in a future election as a protest. According to their own statements, 10 percent do not want to vote at all in one of the next elections. The vast majority of 87 percent, on the other hand, does not want to fundamentally change their voting behavior.
According to their own statements, 30 percent of Germans still have an overview of the various relief measures taken by the federal government. More than two thirds (69 percent) state that they no longer understand this. A majority of supporters of the SPD, Greens and FDP share this view.
Only 14 percent of Germans have the impression that the various relief measures are, all in all, coordinated with one another. On the other hand, a large majority of 77 percent – across all political camps – believes that much of this is contradictory.
The data was collected by the market and opinion research institute Forsa on behalf of RTL Germany on September 2nd and 5th. Database: 1007 respondents. Statistical error tolerance: /- 3 percentage points.
More information about Forsa here
Forsa surveys commissioned by RTL Germany
