A tale of two polls

I give you the vote in the Bundestag this afternoon. In which Angela Merkle amnaged to get the vote she wanted, Germany will pay on the nail (at least the last tranche of the Greek bailout). The next vote is a few months away and she has gained her breathing space. But at what cost?


The numbers tacked up thusly,

The result of the vote was read out by Wolfgang Thierse, deputy speaker of the Bundestag: 523 voted in favour and 85 against, 3 members abstained.
The result means that the vote passed with 85.6 per cent support in the house. But we still need to wait for the precise breakdown to see if Ms Merkel got her absolute majority based on her own supporters.

The problem is that there was another poll done last week in Germany by the broadcaster ZDF, which highlights the utter disconnect between the political class and the  people who, they ought to be reminded, pay their wages.

As their politicians prepare for next Thursday’s parliamentary vote on extending the euro rescue fund, a survey has found that a clear majority of Germans do not want them to decide in favour.

A survey commissioned by public broadcaster ZDF showed that 75 percent of those asked, rejected the idea. Only 19 percent supported the proposed increase to €211 billion of the German credit guarantees to rescue the euro.

This rejection was fairly evenly spread through all political colours, with 70 percent of conservatives expressing that view as well as 73 percent of Social Democrat (SPD) supporters, 71 of Left voters, 67 percent of Green supporters and 82 percent of Pirate Party supporters, the Handelsblatt newspaper reported on Friday.

 That the German people were rather confused as to what to do at all is apparant from the rest of the poll, but that is hardly surprisng given the political monocuulture that that country has had to deal with since the war.