“Climate change” is the major concern of more than 70 per cent of Germans, according to a new study, which found that less than half of those polled ranked mass migration as a cause for anxiety.
Published ahead of the national election in September, the survey conducted by the Kantar Emnid opinion research centre found that 71 per cent of Germans listed climate change as their greatest cause of personal concern.
Looming less large in respondents’ minds than fluctuations in the Earth’s climate were the possibility of new wars, or the threat of terror attacks, which were identified as worries by 65 and 63 per cent of people polled.
Just 45 per cent of Germans named the massive influx of asylum seekers as a cause for concern, placing the issue ahead only of unemployment — which 33 per cent of survey participants said is a source of personal unease.
Crime was identified as a worry by 63 per cent of respondents in the poll, which was commissioned by the publishing group Funke Mediengruppe.
“Environment and climate protection have already greatly mattered to people in Germany for years,” Torsten Schneider-Haase, head of political research at Kantar Emnid, explained.
Speaking of the poll’s implication for the forthcoming elections, he noted that the Chancellor stood out as a credible environmentalist recently when she slammed U.S. President Donald Trump for his decision to withdraw the country from the Paris climate agreement.
The results of the study come at a time when Germany is facing an unprecedented Islamist terror threat, with a new report showing that more than half (54 per cent) of plots in the nation have involved asylum seekers and refugees since 2014, and the onset of the migrant crisis.
And on Wednesday it was revealed that the influx of a million migrants in 2015 — who arrived after Chancellor Angela Merkel opened Europe’s borders — has already left a huge mark on Germany’s demographics.
Breitbart London reported this week that new data from the country’s Federal Statistical Office show that in 2016, almost a quarter (22.5 per cent) of people living in Germany had a migrant background — either first or second generation immigrants — marking a rise of 8.5 per cent from the previous year.