Bürgerumfrage: Deutsche verlieren das Vertrauen in die Handlungsfähigkeit der Regierung

AI summary:

* **Trust keeps falling:** Only **23%** of respondents now say Germany’s public sector is capable of fulfilling its tasks; **73%** think the state is overburdened (a record low/high, respectively). In 2020, 56% still believed it was capable. ([DIE ZEIT](https://www.zeit.de/gesellschaft/zeitgeschehen/2025-09/buergerbefragung-vertrauen-staat-deutscher-beamtenbund))
* **East–West gap:** In eastern Germany, just **17%** consider the state capable (West: 24%).
* **Where people see the state overwhelmed:** Most often named are **asylum & refugee policy (30%)**, then **social security/pensions (16%)**, **schools & education (15%)**, **tax & fiscal policy (13%)**, **internal security (12%)**, and **healthcare (11%)**.
* **What citizens want improved:** **Less and simpler bureaucracy (85%)**, **faster processing (79%)**, more **online services (66%)**, and clearer **responsibilities (58%)**. About **53%** think digitization will substantially improve state performance, while 43% are skeptical.
* **Costs:** For the first time in years, a **majority (50%)** say the public sector costs taxpayers too much (41% disagree).
* **New federal government expectations:** Only **22%** believe the new CDU/CSU–SPD government will strengthen state performance more than the previous coalition; **70%** expect little change. Skepticism is strongest in the East (82% “no change”).
* **Respect for professions:** Firefighters lead public esteem (**92%** rate them highly), followed by **nurses (89%)**, **elder-care workers (87%)**, and **physicians (82%)**. Police are at **79%**; kindergarten educators **77%**. Civil servants are at **35%**. Lowest esteem: **telecom call-center staff (12%)**, **politicians (11%)**, **insurance agents (7%)**, **ad-agency staff (5%)**.
* **Incidents against staff:** About **half of public-sector employees** report being obstructed, harassed, insulted, or attacked at work; **46%** have witnessed assaults on colleagues. ([DIE ZEIT](https://www.zeit.de/gesellschaft/zeitgeschehen/2025-09/buergerbefragung-vertrauen-staat-deutscher-beamtenbund))

**Sources:** the ZEIT report summarizing the 2025 *dbb Bürgerbefragung* and the underlying forsa survey PDF. ([DIE ZEIT](https://www.zeit.de/gesellschaft/zeitgeschehen/2025-09/buergerbefragung-vertrauen-staat-deutscher-beamtenbund))

Surveys arr used to create consensus not report it

We could have had Robert Habeck as a potential chancellor. But the CDU and BILD have thrown so much dirt at him and his party over the last three years that it’s understandable that he’s throwing in the towel.

Instead, we have to settle for a man as chancellor who was kept in check by Merkel. And rightly so, as we can now see. Instead of taxing the rich in the country, they prefer to trample on those who already have little. In our case, the unemployed.

Tax the rich and use that for *society*, including constructing institutions that work (re: rights, laws). That’s how confidence grows.

Keep allowing the rich and privileged to have impunity and watch that confidence hit the floor.

Our chancellor is unbelievably out of touch with working class people.

I mean, the CDU have spent the last legislature to argue that they would have the answers, proposed and promised a lot. And then immediately paddled back after the election to the point they should be glad that Germans seem to have the collective memory of a mayfly..

I don’t know how people on minimum wage can afford groceries for all the inflation. And even though their focus seems to be solely on companies, the economy is still struggling. Yeah, well, thanks. No perspective even there. Instead we get a minister for economy that wants to expand on fossil fuel use.

I mean, it’s exactly what we Germans voted for. If you vote for „a party“ with people like Söder *yet again*, then you kinda want a lying populist and not a functioning government. That’s just how it is.