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February 7, 2012
One in six German voters regrets voting decision
Published: 7 Nov 09 12:01 CET
Online: http://www.thelocal.de/politics/20091107-23093.html
Less than six weeks after giving Chancellor Angela Merkel another term in office, a new survey says one in six German voters regrets their decision on September 27 and would now pick a different party.
- Sarkozy looks to Merkel for re-election help (6 Feb 12)
- China offers Merkel some comfort for Europe (6 Feb 12)
- Westerwelle hammers China, Russia over veto (5 Feb 12)
The voter unease with the new government is striking as the union between the CDU and their Bavarian allies in the CSU drew its lowest result since 1949, with only a 33.8 percent share of the vote. The FDP however, received its highest level of support ever with 14.6 percent of voters choosing the party. The election campaign was widely derided by the media as one of Germany’s most boring ever and voter apathy was widespread, with just 70.8 percent showing up to cast a ballot, a record low in modern German history.
Signs of discord in the new coalition are already evident, as CDU Finance Minster Wolgang Schäuble has publicly questioned whether the government will be able to carry through with the €24 billion worth of tax cuts it has promised. Large tax cuts were the signature piece of the FDP’s election platform.
As Germany prepares to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, voters in the former East Germany are especially regretful of the decisions. 28 percent of eastern German voters told pollsters from the Emnid research firm that they would have voted differently. Western German voters were more content with decision, just 13 percent said they would vote for a different party today.
DPA/The Local (news@thelocal.de)
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Your comments about this article:
In any case, automatically interpreting the survey as a negative reflection on Merkel is, at best, logically flawed (post hoc ergo propter hoc).
Given that everybody knows that both CDU/CSU and FDP prefer each other to every other party, it does not make sense to regret your choice as long as you did not vote for FDP or CDU- why should you now prefer, say Die Linke to SPD when six weeks ago you voted in favor of SPD..? They didn't do that much in the last few weeks that could change one's opinion about them, did they?
If you voted for a party that lost, but your opinion changed know, that means you would vote now for CDU/FDP, I don't think that you would really regret you choice- they won anyways. Maybe you are relieved
What a stupid article.....
1.) Who did the 1 in 6 vote for?
2.) How many after the last vote regretted theirs?
3.) This article is fluff.
I don't know what model they are following (Spiegel Online has gotten ridiculous too) but it seems like the quality of news people spend their time reading is going to the dogs. Maybe it's not such a bad idea to buy subscriptions and support good journalism where one can find it afterall.