Almost Half of Germans Want Merkel to Resign After Rejected Migration Reforms

Almost half of German voters want Chancellor Angela Merkel to quit, according to a new poll, more than those who want her to stay on.

The shock survey comes as the leader of the Christian Democrats (CDU) fights for her political life, after rejecting proposed reforms to migrant policy from her sister party, the Bavarian Christian Social Union (CSU).

The Bavarians want her to get tough on illegal migrants, after years of open borders and losing voters to the populist AfD party, giving her a two-week deadline to find new solutions before they close the region’s borders without her consent.

Now, the new YouGov survey shows 43 percent of German respondents want Mrs Merkel to leave her post. Another 42 percent said she should stay on, however, and 15 percent did not know how they felt.

Furthermore, almost a third of those surveyed (32 percent) said they thought the on-going immigration row could topple her fragile government, but 45 percent said the coalition would continue to govern.

CSU leader and interior minister Horst Seehofer is leading the rebellion against Mrs Merkel’s open border policy, and his demands include returning illegals who have been rejected for asylum in other nations to the border.

Earlier this month, a separate poll revealed the majority of Germans back his proposed reforms.

According to the AFP, 62 percent said “undocumented asylum seekers” should be turned back at the border, and 86 percent said they wanted to see faster deportations of migrants whose asylum claims have been rejected.

U.S. President Donald J. Trump entered the debate on Monday, with a series of tweets criticising Mrs Merkel and her policies.

He wrote: “The people of Germany are turning against their leadership as migration is rocking the already tenuous Berlin coalition.

“Big mistake made all over Europe in allowing millions of people in who have so strongly and violently changed their culture!

“Crime in Germany is up 10 per cent plus (officials do not want to report these crimes) since migrants were accepted. Others countries are even worse. Be smart America!”