Berlin Wahl It's about trust

Anyone who wins the election in Berlin has a lot of catching up to do Because trust in the state institutions of the capital has suffered significantly.

But a bright leader who could decide the election is missing The repeat election in Berlin today is about nothing more than trust.

Because that is currently the scarcest currency there The approval ratings for the red-green-red senate and the Governing Mayor Franziska Giffey are among the lowest measured by Infratest dimap in the past 25 years before elections.

And trust in state institutions such as administration or state parliament has fallen far below the level of other federal states The mood is the receipt for that, from the point of view of most voters, those responsible for politics have not done their homework or have done it poorly in recent years.

Current events such as the attacks on security forces on New Year's Eve, everyday bad experiences with Berlin authorities and home-made traffic problems all contribute to this The fact that the Berlin administration was not even able to properly process an election in September 2021 was the icing on the cake.

24 percent are satisfied with the Senate Expressed in numbers: only 24 percent of the eligible voters surveyed by Infratest dimap last week are satisfied with the work of the incumbent Senate In the history of the surveys, there were only two fewer: 2012 in Saarland after the failure of the Jamaica coalition there and 2002 in Saxony-Anhalt, where the SPD minority government was tolerated by the PDS.

These could be golden times for the largest opposition party But only 31 percent of Berliners believe that a CDU-led Senate would make things better; 52 percent don't think so.

For many, the first question that arises today is whether they should cast their vote at all Voter turnout was at a record level of 75 percent in 2021 due to the parallel federal elections and is likely to fall significantly.

Order and security particularly important The most important electoral issue for the people in Berlin is order and security Almost one in four (23 percent) want their choice to depend on who can best take care of it in town.

The CDU can therefore hope for gains She has the best competence values ​​in this field.

And a clear majority (57 percent) thinks it's good that the CDU "clearly names problems with immigrants" after New Year's Eve The second most important issue is the situation on the housing market.

Two-thirds of people in the capital are worried about not having affordable housing in the future One in six (17 percent) wants to make their voting decision dependent on this.

This is the domain of the Left Party, which is assigned the highest level of competence in housing policy, just ahead of the SPD Climate protection is in third place overall, but it is crucial for the young and for the Green electorate.

Radiant leader missing Unlike in previous state elections, there is no radiant leader in Berlin whose popularity extends beyond their own camp and who could therefore decide the election The Governing Mayor Franziska Giffey (SPD) is attested by 36 percent of those surveyed as having done a good job, a negative record for a Social Democrat in state elections.

Only the CDU Prime Ministers Stefan Mappus and Christoph Ahlhaus had lower values ​​in Baden-Württemberg and Hamburg in 2011 Giffey was followed by the top candidates from the Left Party and FDP, Klaus Lederer (34 percent) and Sebastian Czaja (25 percent), on the scale of approval ratings.

but both of them have no prospect of the top office Giffey's challenger Kai Wegner (CDU) and Bettina Jarasch (Greens), on the other hand, are rated worse with 23 and 19 percent approval.

In a direct election comparison among the three, Giffey is just ahead of Wegner - even if her lead over the CDU man has shrunk from 18 points in November to just five points recently The least evil? The numbers underline what has been a frequent topic of conversation in Berlin in recent days: the decision is difficult, even for those who absolutely want to go to the polls.

That is why the surveys of the past few weeks in Berlin are even more than usual to be seen as snapshots How strong the parties come off depends on whether they have been able to mobilize in the last few days - or are simply ticked as the least evil.

No matter who will form the new Senate in the future: Trust in the Berlin institutions must be rebuilt in part 18 percent of those surveyed in Berlin said they could rely on the public administration, nationwide the figure is currently 66 percent.

In Berlin, 53 percent say that the police ensure order and security, nationwide it is 73 percent In 2016, 65 percent of Berliners were still convinced that their city was "developing very positively all in all", but now only 29 percent are.

There's a lot of catching up to do The influence of federal political issues on the mood before the election was unusually small - the problems in Berlin are too tangible for that.

Nevertheless, the Berlin result will probably have repercussions on the traffic light coalition In the last three state elections, the Greens had made significant gains, while the SPD and FDP lost, in some cases significantly.

This had noticeably increased the tensions within the traffic light As regional as this repeat election may be, from 6 p.

m the results will quickly spread to the federal level.

.