When it comes to ‘stuck in the mud’: one year on, friedrich merz struggles to find his footing, one year after taking office on 6 May 2025, German chancellor Friedrich Merz is confronting sinking public confidence, coalition friction and mounting economic pressure. Only 19% of Germans approve of his work in a recent international survey, leaving the leader of Europe's largest economy vulnerable as the far right awaits opportunities.
Understanding ‘Stuck In The Mud’: One Year On, Friedrich Merz Struggles To Find His Footing
Merz's difficulties began before he formally assumed power. The Christian Democrat lost the first parliamentary vote to elect him chancellor, an extraordinary setback in a process normally treated as confirmation of the governing parties' choice. The identities of 18 unnamed rebels in the secret ballot remain unknown, and doubts about his alliance with Social Democrats haven't faded. Originally reported by The Guardian.
A recent survey for US-based opinion research institute Morning Consult ranked Merz second-lowest for approval among 24 democratically elected world leaders. His aides privately argue that record unpopularity for a postwar chancellor doesn't fairly reflect the pressures confronting him, including industrial decline, Donald Trump's hostility and rising fuel prices since the war in Iran.
"The cart is certainly stuck in the mud," Merz biographer Daniel Goffart said this week. That assessment captures more than weak polling: rivalries inside the government have repeatedly complicated its response to overlapping domestic and international emergencies.
Supporters point to new asylum applications falling by more than half, substantial defence and infrastructure investment, and efforts to tackle persistent personnel shortages in Germany's armed forces as Russia's threat drives security planning. They blame negative media coverage for reinforcing perceptions of paralysis.
Trump clash exposes the cost of blunt talk
Merz has sought to distinguish himself from the caution of his predecessors, Olaf Scholz and longtime rival Angela Merkel. But offhand remarks about immigration, work and pensions have caused offence or anxiety, weakening his effort to project authority and common purpose.
"Merz is an impulsive guy, sometimes emotional," Daniel Goffart said. "That can be refreshing but not always. And at the age of 70, it is probably not going to change."
Late last month, the chancellor delivered an unusually direct criticism of the US-led war in Iran while speaking to school pupils. The intervention broke with his approach of keeping communication with Trump open through flattery and pragmatism.
An angry Trump announced plans to withdraw at least 5,000 US troops stationed in Germany and impose punishing trade penalties on European cars. The dispute threatened a historic rupture with Washington just as Germany faced pressure on its industrial base.
For an economy struggling with deindustrialisation, the stakes aren't abstract. Germany's car industry already faces Chinese competition and Trump's tariffs, while voters increasingly doubt the coalition's ability to restore growth or reshape welfare provision before an approaching demographic squeeze.
Economic rescue promises meet a crisis of management
Political consultant Johannes Hillje argues that Merz's lack of experience leading a government has exposed gaps in his skills. Promises that the former business executive would deliver a quick recovery haven't materialised.
"Merz's premiership is suffering because his personal shortcomings in communication and management are compounded by a structural crisis in the country, the resolution of which requires, above all, sound management and effective communication," Johannes Hillje said.
Political commentator Nils Minkmar offered a harsher analogy: Timmy, the stranded humpback whale whose rescue efforts he compared with Germany's predicament. He described the once-mighty creature as "A symbol for the whole country."
"I have rarely seen a federal government as clueless as the Black-Red coalition in the face of Trump's war on Iran," Nils Minkmar said, referring to the governing parties' colours.
His criticism targeted hopes that towing Timmy to the Atlantic would produce a recovery worthy of Flipper, and what he saw as similarly wishful ambitions within the Union, Merz's conservatives, to restore a golden age through petrol rebates and taxation tweaks.
"None of this will work," Nils Minkmar said, arguing that better-informed coalition politicians remain unwilling to challenge that approach publicly.
For Friedrich Merz, the coming test isn't simply surviving another controversy. It's demonstrating that his coalition can manage economic change, repair public trust and contain internal conflict while navigating a confrontation with Washington. With support so low and the far right ready to exploit further setbacks, the government has little political room for fresh mistakes.
Originally reported by The Guardian. View original.