2022 poll on national and NATO defence in Germany: Rising support for the armed forces, higher awareness for security threats posed by Kremlin and PRC, NATO membership considered important by 72% (54% in East Germany), but low support for military defence of NATO allies under attack by Russia
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This poll (n = 1090) is part of the “Sicherheitsreport 2022” (Security Report 2022) and was conducted by pollster Allensbach in verbal in person interviews between January 6th and 20th, 2022. The poll is representative for the German population over the age of 16.
source:
https://www.sicherheitsreport.net/sicherheitsreport-2022/
https://www.sicherheitsreport.net/wp-content/uploads/Charts_fu%CC%88r_PM_Sicherheitsreport_2022.pdf
Some key findings (on slides one to six from top to bottom):
slide 1:
>”Do we still need the Bundeswehr (German Armed Forces) or could we do without?”
>need the Bundeswehr: 79%
>could do without: 9%
slide 2:
>NATO membership of Germany
>Still important today: 72% (East Germany: 54%)
>Not important (anymore): 13% (East Germany: 24%)
slide 3:
>”In case another NATO member state is attacked: Should Germany in this case participate in military action to defend this country or should Germany preferably stay out of military action?”
>Total population: participate (“beteiligen”) 44%, stay out (“heraushalten”) 29%, undecided (“unentschieden”) 27%
>among people considering NATO membership important: participate 58%, stay out 17%, undecided 25%
In other words: In case of an attack on a unspecified NATO ally by an unspecified aggressor, there’s no absolute, but (with a quarter of undecideds) at at least a relative majority in support of honoring NATO’s defence commitments.
As caveat to the wording of this and the following question: Having “preferably stay out of military action” at the end of the question probably leads a considerable number of people to skew to “stay out”, because “preferably stay out of military action” is pretty base-level instinct (at leas in Germany).
slide 4:
>”In case that there’s an attack by Russia on the Baltic countries of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania, which are members of NATO: Should Germany participate in military action to defend those countries or should Germany preferably stay out of military action?”
>West Germany: participate 39%, stay out 37%, undecided 24%
>East Germany: participate 20%, stay out 67%, undecided 13%
>(in Germany overall: relative majority for “stay out”)
>[note that West Germany has a 70 million inhabitants, East Germay only 12 million]
In other words: In case the aggressor is Russia and the NATO allies in question are the Balitic states of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania, West Germany is split (again with a quarter of undecideds) on the question of honoring NATO’s defence commitments, whereas East Germany is firmly against it with a two-thirds majority (and comparatively few undecideds).
slide 5:
>”What do you think: Which countries on the list pose the biggest danger, the biggest threat to the peace in the world?”
>Russia 66%
>China 60%
>North Korea 47%
>Afghanistan 37%
>Iran 36%
>Belarus 33%
>Turkey 30%
>USA 26%
>Syria 26%
>Saudi Arabia 16%
>Israel 15%
>Pakistan 12%
>Palestine 8%
>India 3%
>other country 3%
slide 6:
>(same question as in slide 5 compared to polls in previous years)
If nothing else, this poll shows how absolutely insane East Germany is. Whereas the rest of former Soviet-occupied Europe turned into Russia hawks due to the experience, East Germany apparently went the excact opposite way.
> low support for military defence of NATO allies under attack by Russia
Germoneyans kinda missed the point of NATO
[deleted]
Pointless having Germany in NATO at that point then.
They seem to see that Russia is a massive threat but would do nothing.
Es beschämt mich.
No thanks. I Will never support this. We already lost 2 World wars. I wouldn’t want it to be 3
[deleted]