After the federal election in autumn 2021, it was clear: Germany would experience a political premiere at the federal level. The question at the time, after the SPD's narrow election victory over the CDU/CSU: Will it be a traffic light or Jamaica government? In other words: Are the FDP and the Greens in a coalition with Armin Laschet and the Union as the chancellor's party? Or would you rather go with Olaf Scholz and the SPD?
In 2021, 63 percent wanted a federal government led by the SPD
In the ARD-DeutschlandTrend shortly after the election in autumn 2021, 53 percent found the traffic light variant very good or good. Jamaica only achieved 25 percent approval. 63 percent of those surveyed wanted the SPD to lead the next federal government, a significantly higher figure than for the CDU/CSU.
Ultimately, the SPD, FDP and Greens form a traffic light. When the coalition collapsed in November 2024, DeutschlandTrend showed: 59 percent of those surveyed thought the end of the traffic light was good or very good. 36 percent thought it was less good or bad. The initial approval had long since given way to much rejection. What happened in GermanyTrends during the traffic light years? What do the surveys reveal about approval ratings and the Sunday question? An overview.
Popularity: Bad values for the traffic light government
Shortly before it went off, the traffic light had extremely low satisfaction ratings: 85 percent were dissatisfied, 14 percent were satisfied. This was not a historic low, but it was the fifth worst value for a federal government since Infratest dimap collected the data. The numbers also show: Since February 2022, satisfaction with the traffic lights has essentially gone downhill.
During this time, the beginning of the Russian attack on Ukraine, including the German arms debate, later the beginning of the energy crisis in Germany, rising prices due to inflation and the end of the corona pandemic occurred. It is not possible to draw precise conclusions from these policy areas about the federal government's popularity ratings from the numbers.
At the start of the traffic lights in December 2021, the mood was still balanced. 51 percent believe that Olaf Scholz will be a good chancellor, a similar figure to that of Angela Merkel before she took office in 2005. 45 percent liked the new traffic light coalition agreement – especially supporters of the SPD, Greens and FDP. 45 percent were skeptical about the coalition agreement. The expansion of renewable energies, for example, met with great general approval.
