Forsa survey after TV quadrell: This candidate for chancellor won

Berliner Zeitung Forsa survey after TV quadrell: This candidate for chancellor won Eva Maria Braungart/dpa • 5 hours • 2 minutes reading time For the first time before the federal election, the four candidates for chancellor discussed each other in a TV format on Sunday. Olaf Scholz (SPD), Friedrich Merz (CDU), Alice Weidel (AfD) and Robert Habeck (Greens) gathered in a studio of the RTL broadcaster for the big exchange of blows. The show is being hotly debated on social media. A Forsa survey of viewers saw the CDU/CSU candidate for chancellor, Friedrich Merz, as the winner of the two-hour show. The CDU candidate for chancellor was well ahead of Scholz with 32 percent, with 25 percent. Habeck and Weidel each received 18 percent. Habeck was rated as the most sympathetic candidate: 34 percent of respondents voted for him, 23 for Merz, 19 for Scholz and 17 for Weidel. The question of who could lead the country best also went to Merz, who received 42 percent. Behind him were Scholz with 19, Weidel with 16 and Habeck with 13 percent. 84 percent of respondents answered the question of whether the debate had changed their personal voting decision with "no". Only 10 percent said "yes". There was praise for a clear message from Friedrich Merz to Alice Weidel when it came to the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine. When Weidel expressed fears that Germany would no longer be perceived as neutral by Russia, Merz was clear: "No, Ms. Weidel, we are not neutral. We are not in between, we are on the side of Ukraine." These words were confirmation for him that he would do everything to prevent "them from ever being given political responsibility." Almost all candidates were criticized for their lack of knowledge about how many civil servants work until they retire. The only one who answered correctly was Scholz. Only 20 percent of civil servants work until they reach retirement age. Habeck estimated three times as high, at 60 percent. "It's crazy. Something has to happen," commented Stern journalist Julius Betschka.