Six months in office, Germany's Merz faces plunge in popularity

By Sarah Marsh

BERLIN (Reuters) -Six months after taking office, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz is struggling to fulfill pledges to revive Europe's largest economy and fend off the far right, with only a fifth of Germans wanting to see him run for office again.

Merz, who turned 70 on Tuesday, took over from his unpopular predecessor Olaf Scholz in May vowing to boost growth, reduce irregular immigration and build up Europe's largest army in the face of security concerns about Russia.

The conservative leader said it was Germany's last chance to counteract the surging far-right and prepare for an age of rising security threats and wavering support from its traditional ally the United States.

With economic growth stagnating and the coalition struggling with the divisive issue of migration, surveys show Merz is one of the least popular chancellors in memory, with ratings of 25%, far behind those of his two predecessors at the same point.

German business leaders complain about sluggish reforms and a mix of job worries, inflation and geopolitical fears has darkened the mood of voters.

As Merz's parliamentary colleagues in Berlin congratulated him on his birthday, the head of the VCI chemical industry association warned that output in the sector had slumped to its lowest point in 30 years, leaving a cornerstone of Europe's largest economy facing "Red Alert".

According to a survey released on Tuesday, just 18% of Germans want to see Merz run again as chancellor in elections slated for 2029.

Even among conservatives, just 47% would want Merz - Germany's second oldest chancellor, after Konrad Adenauer - to run again, according to the survey by pollster Forsa for broadcaster RTL.

Merz, an instinctive free marketeer and cultural conservative, whose political apprenticeship was spent in a more stable era for Germany's two main parties, has struggled with managing an ideologically misaligned coalition.

"His political talents are less suited for that," said Oliver Lembcke, political scientist at the University of Bochum.

With governments in Britain and France experiencing similar falls in public support, Merz's approval slump underlines the wider crisis facing European leaders as they confront buoyant anti-establishment parties.

Germany has five state elections next year and support has surged for the far-right Alternative for Germany, now consistently holding top spot in national polls.

POLARISING COMMENTS

Expectations were high after Merz secured a historic agreement for record spending on infrastructure and defence before even taking office.

That pledge has not only failed to produce results so far but also alienated conservative voters who feel he betrayed a campaign platform of fiscal responsibility.

The coalition of Merz's conservatives and the centre-left Social Democrats is also still haggling over steps to rebuild the armed forces and deal with hundreds of thousands of migrants who arrived from the Middle East in the past decade.

Often seen as impulsive and prone to communication errors, he has come under fire for ignoring coalition sensibilities and has not given the sense of security and stability conveyed by conservative predecessors Angela Merkel and Helmut Kohl.

"Merz is trying to run his government like a CEO. But that doesn't fit an era of fluid and fragile majorities," said political scientist Stefan Marschall at the University of Duesseldorf.

With national elections years away, Merz, who had no government experience before taking office, has time to recover, push through promised reforms and reap the benefits of his fiscal bazooka.

But critics say he must act soon to avoid the fate of Scholz, whose fractious, Social Democrat-led coalition collapsed in acrimony.

"Everything can change in politics from one day to the next," Lembcke said. "But Merz's unpopularity at the moment has become a real burden."

(Reporting by Sarah Marsh; additional Reporting by Andreas Rinke and Maria Martinez; editing by James Mackenzie and Mark Heinrich)