Sign up now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com Register BERLIN, Aug 21 (Reuters) – About two-thirds of Germans are dissatisfied with the work of German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and his divided coalition, who have faced crisis after crisis since taking office in December, according to a survey published on Sunday. Only 25% of Germans think the Social Democrats are doing a good job, down from 46% in March, according to the Insa poll for the Bild am Sonntag weekly newspaper. By contrast, a record 62% of Germans think Scholz – who was deputy chancellor under veteran conservative leader Angela Merkel in the previous coalition government – is doing a bad job, compared to just 39% in March. Sign up now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com Register Since taking office, Scholz has had to deal with the war in Ukraine, an energy crisis, skyrocketing inflation and now drought – all pushing Europe’s largest economy to the brink of recession. Critics accused him of not showing sufficient leadership. Support for the Social Democratic Party (SPD) was just 19%, the Insa poll showed, well behind the opposition conservatives and junior coalition partners the Greens, and below the 25.7% the SPD took in the federal elections. elections last year. Some 65% of Germans are dissatisfied with the work of Germany’s three-party coalition government as a whole, up from 43% in March. The poll comes after a particularly difficult week for Scholz. First, he got into hot water by failing to immediately counter Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas at a joint press conference in Berlin when he accused Israel of committing “50 Holocausts.” read more Then on Friday, opposition MPs in Hamburg accused him of concealing the truth at a hearing into a major tax fraud that took place during his tenure as mayor of the northern port city – charges he denies, instead protesting memory gaps. read more Sign up now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com Register Reporting by Birgit Mittwollen and Sarah Marsh Editing by Gareth Jones Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
