Alwaght- People in Germany fear US President Donald Trump more than international terrorism, illegal immigration, and economic worries, a survey has revealed.
Asking a sample of 2,400 Germans between June 8 and July 18 of this year, the multiple choice questionnaire found that 69 percent of Germans deemed Trump’s policies and attitude to allies were having a dangerous impact across the globe.
"Trump's ruthless “America First” politics, his aggression with regards to international arrangements and his equally aggressive trade and security politics, even towards allied countries, scare the majority of the population," Professor Manfred G Schmidt, who served as a consultant for R+V told German media outlet Deutsche Welle.
Conducted by insurance company R+V Versicherungen, “The fears of Germans” survey has been documenting German citizen’s fears since 1992. The fear of Trump’s policies had the sixth highest percentage recorded in the survey over 14 years, according to the company. “Trump’s attacks on Germany are having a growing impact on sentiment,” Professor Schmidt added, referring to the president’s frequent verbal assaults on Germany’s trade surplus and relatively low levels of defense spending.
Fear of Trump’s bellicose rhetoric and behavior was followed closely by anxiety over immigration.
For many years terrorism had ranked one of the highest in the minds of German’s fears – 73 percent in 2016 – after a spate of attacks across Europe by jihadists. While still high at 58 percent, it shares the number four spot with fears over the Eurozone debt crisis.
The 2018 survey was released a day after an anonymous senior official in the Trump administration penned a column in the New York Times describing the president as amoral and unmoored, and detailing how members of his team are thwarting parts of his agenda in order to protect the United States.
