Merz flubs his comeback tour – POLITICO

BERLIN — As Friedrich Merz’s popularity plunges to new lows — compounding his already-weak coalition’s troubles little more than a year into office — the chancellor is traveling the country to persuade Germans that things remain on the right track.

It’s not going well. Instead, Merz looks like he is only compounding his problems, often appearing out of touch and further alienating some of the very voters he can least afford to lose.

A stop in Salzwedel, a town lined with half-timbered homes in the eastern state of Saxony-Anhalt, on April 30 laid bare the chancellor’s vulnerability. In an area where the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) is far ahead in polls ahead of a regional vote in September, anger over rising costs of everything from energy to health insurance was palpable as the audience pelted the chancellor with questions about their bread-and-butter concerns.