Merkel loses support on handling of debt crisis: Poll

Support has sharply declined for German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s decisions regarding the eurozone’s spiraling debt crisis, a survey suggests.

The poll, conducted by YouGov and printed in Monday’s edition of Bild newspaper, found only 33 percent in favor of Merkel’s stance, Reuters reported.

The steep erosion in domestic support for Merkel undermines her chance of winning a third term in a 2013 federal election.

A mid-July poll by ZDF-Politbarometer showed 63 percent of Germans favored Merkel’s handling of the debt crisis. Another poll at the start of July by Infratest-ARD put support for Merkel’s crisis policies at 58 percent.

Asked in the YouGov survey whether they feared for their savings, 44 percent of Germans responded affirmatively.

Merkel has been demonized across Europe mainly due to her demands for austerity in return for aid.

A June 29 Emnid poll suggested that Germans think their country’s economic conditions would improve if Europe’s top economy leaves the 17-member debt-stricken eurozone.

Various eurozone’s member states have been struggling with deep economic stagnancy since the bloc’s financial crisis began roughly five years ago.

Rising unemployment in Germany signals that even Europe’s biggest economy is not immune to the economic crisis in the eurozone and cannot be depended on to prop up growth.