Emmanuel Thomas, DPA, Saturday, June 24, 2023
BERLIN – A clear majority of German citizens believe that Germany should expand its relationships with important countries in the global South.
In a survey conducted by the opinion research institute Forsa on behalf of the magazine Internationale Politik, 76% of the respondents said relations should be expanded.
The term global South often refers to countries or states in the regions of Latin America, Africa, Asia and Oceania. Only 21% thought that Germany should not expand its political and economic relations in these regions, in addition to the existing close ties with European and trans-Atlantic partners.
Approval was slightly higher in eastern Germany, 84%, than in western Germany, 75%. There were only minor differences in age groups. Both the 18-29-year-old group, at 81%, and the over 60-year-olds, 78%, approved of expanded relationships to an above-average extent.
At 97%, Green Party voters were almost unanimous in their support. Free Democrat (FDP) voters were 86% in support, while 75% of Social Democrats (SPD) and 78% of the opposition conservative bloc CDU/CSU were in favour. Only 59% of far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) voters were in support, with 37% against.
The data were collected by Forsa on behalf of the magazine Internationale Politik on June 9, 2023 from a survey of 1,001 respondents, with a margin of error of plus or minus three percentage points.
