Olaf Scholz as Chancellor of Germany: public opinion 2024

Olaf Scholz became the chancellor of Germany on December 8th 2021, and by January 14th 2022, he had an approval rating of 65 percent. This rating peaked in March 2022 at 73 percent. As of June 2024, however, only 28 percent of people in Germany thought he was doing well in his position. In fact, since August 2023, more people have consistently perceived the Chancellor as doing a bad job than a good one.

Global views on Olaf Scholz

Although in Germany the population seems to be dissatisfied with the decisions that Olaf Scholz has made, this sentiment is not shared elsewhere. In a survey conducted worldwide, around 49 percent of respondents had confidence in him. This rating is significantly higher than in Germany, though globally there are still higher levels of confidence in Joe Biden, Volodymyr Zelensky, and Emmanuel Macron. When it comes to how Scholz is talked about by online newspapers in the U.S., the Chancellor had a sentiment score of -2.12 in 2023, and this was an increase compared to 2022. Furthermore, he was also scoring higher than Joe Biden and Volodymyr Zelensky, despite higher confidence in them based on the survey mentioned here first.

Political interest

Germans are generally interested in politics, yet as in all countries, some people are very passionate about politics and some less so. Among the younger generation in Germany, around half of people came into contact with politics in their regular media consumption and almost a third said that it was often a topic with friends and family. Young people can become especially invested in politics because the decisions that are made by the government will impact their futures and so it is important to them that they have a say. In more recent years, social media has begun to play a role in politics. For those frustrated by politics, social media can give them a voice, especially if they feel their concerns are not being heard by those in power. In addition, on a more practical level, social media allows news about current events to be spread around the world in seconds. For the foreseeable future, social media will likely continue to have an influential role, especially among the younger generations.