Union candidate for chancellor: a good third of Germans consider Wüst to be suitable

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A good third of Germans consider Wüst to be suitable

06/27/2023, 5:17 p.m

For the trend barometer, Forsa has determined whether the Germans consider Prime Minister Wüst to be a suitable candidate for chancellor. The result: 38 percent see it that way, 30 percent don’t believe it.

The CDU is currently discussing whether the Union with party leader Friedrich Merz as chancellor candidate could fully exploit its potential in the federal elections. A possible alternative to Merz would be the Prime Minister of North Rhine-Westphalia, Hendrik Wüst – a Guest contribution by the CDU politician in the “Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung” almost two weeks ago was understood as a corresponding statement.

38 percent of Germans believe that Wüst would be a suitable candidate for chancellor for the Union parties, according to a Forsa survey for the RTL and ntv trend barometer. 30 percent don’t think so. 23 percent of Germans have not yet heard of Wüst.

Of the supporters of the Union parties, 45 percent say that Wüst is a suitable candidate for chancellor – 26 do not consider him suitable. Even among supporters of the other parties, with the exception of the AfD, Wüst is seen as a suitable candidate: 40 percent of SPD supporters, 42 percent of Greens supporters and 39 percent of FDP supporters. On the other hand, only 21 percent of AfD supporters consider Wüst to be suitable.

Of those surveyed in North Rhine-Westphalia, 46 percent consider Wüst to be a suitable candidate for chancellor, 36 percent do not. 8 percent of North Rhine-Westphalia say that they do not know Wüst.

The debate is also fueled by the comparatively poor values ​​​​of CDU leader Merz in the Chancellor question. In the current trend barometer, only 20 or 23 percent say they would choose Merz if the Chancellor were elected directly.

In an interview with ntv.de, Forsa Managing Director Peter Matuschek pointed out that Merz, as Union faction leader, did not have particularly good poll numbers in the years 2000 to 2002. “Basically, one has to say that Merz is one of the main reasons why the Union remains below the 30 percent mark despite the great dissatisfaction with the traffic light,” said Matuschek. “If the CDU had a more popular party leader, it would certainly have better values ​​than it currently has.”

Whether it would be different with Wüst, however, is difficult to say. “In any case, it is striking that in our regular ranking of politicians, representatives of the Union from countries such as Hendrik Wüst or Daniel Günther have significantly better values ​​than Friedrich Merz,” said Matuschek.