Just 32 percent of Germans told the R+V Insurance Group in a poll out Thursday they were afraid of getting a serious illness amid the coronavirus pandemic. But 53 percent of Germans put US president Donald Trump at the top of their fears, saying his politics were creating a “more dangerous world”, reported EUobserver on Friday.
Meanwhile, 49 percent said they were wary of paying for EU debt related to the pandemic’s economic fallout.
The results did not come as a surprise for Professor Manfred G. Schmidt, a political scientist at the Ruprecht-Karls University in Heidelberg, said DW on Friday.
He has been advising the R+V insurance company for years and helping with the evaluation of the annual study.
On November 3, US voters will head to the polls to elect a new president or re-elect the old one. For many Germans, a second term for US President Donald Trump would probably be a nightmare.
Trump ranks number one this year on Germans’ list of fears at 53%. The US president has topped the R+V fear scale as early as 2018.
Schmidt sees these concerns as “justified,” pointing to the trade war with China or verbal attacks on even allied countries like Germany.
“Trump’s foreign policy has repeatedly caused serious international entanglements,” the political scientist said, adding that Washington also continues to withdraw from international cooperation.
Political topics, which have caused great anxiety among Germans in the past, are losing importance, according to the survey.
Despite the rising number of infections and the awareness of the dangers of the coronavirus, people in Germany are staying fairly relaxed. Only 42% of those surveyed fear that globalization could lead to more frequent pandemics in the future.
“Given the rapid spread of the virus worldwide, we had expected higher figures. According to our findings, people are much more afraid that the virus could threaten their economic well-being rather than their health,” Römstedt said.
