[Skybird]

The Neue Zürcher Zeitung writes on a yearly polling of Germans on their moods and priorities:

The "Security Report 2022" takes the pulse of Germany's citizens. Economic fears dominate, while health risks are losing their terror. The proportion of those who would like to see a more liberal approach to the Corona crisis has increased.

While German Health Minister Lauterbach is trusted very much, Foreign Minister Baerbock - here with her Russian counterpart Lavrov - has to make do with low scores.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz is able to contain his passion. On several occasions, however, he has turned out to be a passionate speaker in his still rather short time in office - always when he countered the view that Germany is torn apart. "To that end," he said in the Bundestag, "I state: our society is not divided."

The "Security Report 2022" published this Tuesday could make Scholz ponder. After all, 56 percent of all Germans, and thus 4 percentage points more than last year, are "very worried" that society could become "more and more" divided. A high 70 percent would like to see more action by the state to counter these divisive tendencies. And that is not the only revealing finding the report has in store.

Since 2011, the Allensbach polling institute has been producing the annual Security Report on behalf of the Hamburg-based Center for Strategy and Higher Leadership. Its purpose is to gauge the fears and risks that concern German citizens. For the current edition, a total of 1090 people were interviewed in person and orally between January 6 and 20, "representative of the German population aged 16 and over".

In addition to the growing concern about a social divide, another figure turns out to be less than flattering for the "traffic lights." The number of those who fear that "our government" could prove too weak in the face of multiple problems shot up from 24 to 35 percent within a year. On the other hand, concern that overall political stability could decline fell from 44 to 33 percent. Does the third year of Corona indicate a decoupling of social sentiment and trust in executive performance? Is Germany depoliticizing itself for the good of politics?

At the very least, the capital of trust is earning different rates of interest. As of mid-January, 62 percent of respondents trust Health Minister Karl Lauterbach to do a "good job," but only 23 percent trust Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock. At 15 and 13 percent, the approval ratings for the new Federal Interior Minister Nancy Faeser and the new Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht, both of whom belong to the SPD, are catastrophic.

Baerbock may grudge her poor ranking all the less because her Green cabinet colleague Robert Habeck receives a remarkable 43 percent. From this, one could draw the no less striking conclusion that Habeck is perceived far more as a climate protection minister than as a federal economics minister, which he also is. At the same time as he is held in relatively high esteem, the Germans surveyed also said that they were most concerned about inflation at the moment.

Against the development that "money is worth less and less," 84 percent would like to see greater commitment from the state, and 70 percent name inflation as their greatest concern. In his first government statement as economics minister, Habeck admitted that high inflation is "a particular burden for low-income households.

A year ago, Germans were primarily concerned about the economic impact of the Corona crisis. This fear slipped to second place, but at 66 percent instead of 70 percent, it is still a significant source of tension. A geopolitically unpredictable situation continues to worry 62 percent and climate change 54 percent - at an equally stable level.

In general, the Corona crisis is losing some of its terror in the general perception. Threats from new global pandemics are felt by 31 percent instead of 43 percent, and by 30 percent instead of 34 percent from an infection with the corona virus. This, too, expresses a paradox: Governments are trusted less, but the results of their actions are becoming less important.


Security also has a foreign policy component, and there the weights have shifted enormously. A year ago, North Korea was rated as the greatest threat to world peace, ahead of Iran, China and Turkey, and the Russian Confederation, which was far behind with 32 percent. Now Russia ranked first with 66 percent, China retained second, North Korea fell to third and Iran to fifth. Afghanistan slipped in between.

For all their realpolitik inclinations, Germans still seem to follow the principle of the bear who wants to have his fur washed without getting wet. 72 percent overall instead of 58 percent previously - but only 54 percent in the eastern part of the republic - consider NATO membership important "for the security of our country." At the same time, only 44 percent demand that Germany fulfill its membership obligations and participate militarily in the defense of a NATO state under attack.

Thus, at the beginning of this year, the Germans are still wrestling with themselves and their principles. Sometimes they are relaxed about problems that they hardly trust anyone to solve, sometimes they are very worried. The only thing that remains stable is the longing for stability - albeit with slight tectonic shifts.

In 2021, 77 percent agreed with the thesis that the greatest possible security is the most important thing in Corona times and that the freedom of the individual must take a back seat to protection against infection. And 25 percent instead of 17 percent agree with the rather un-German statement that freedom comes before security. One in four Germans says that everyone should decide for themselves which protective measures they will take and which they will not.

Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)
https://www.nzz.ch/international/sic...and-ld.1667505

The priorities the german population has obviously differs significantly fromn the perception of things that politicians and ideologists want to command.