Angela Merkel's Popularity Drops amidst Migrant Influx to Germany

German Chancellor Angela Merkel attends a session of the Bundestag discussing measures to manage the refugee influx, Berlin, 1 October 2015. Photo EPA/BGNES

The personal popularity of Chancellor Angela Merkel has dwindled amidst the massive inflow of migrants into Germany, a new monthly poll has shown.

The number of Germans worried by the number of new migrant arrivals has also increased, according to a phone survey of 1,001 respondents conducted for ARD television by pollster Infratest Dimap in the last two days of September, international newswires reported on Friday.

Merkel said in early September that migrants who had piled up in Hungary will be welcome in Germany. The influx of asylum seekers has shown little sign of abating since then.

The share of Germans satisfied with Merkel's handling of her job fell to 54% in the September poll, down nine percentage points from a month earlier and the lowest level since December 2011.

At the same time, voters's satisfaction with Bavarian governor Horst Seehofer, the most vocal critic of Merkel's welcoming position toward refugees, was up 11 points to 39%.

The poll also showed that 51% of the respondents were worried by the number of refugees arriving in Germany. In August, their share was 38%.

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