Survey says...what Germans really think
Over 20 years ago, I remember moving to Southern California after spending most of my adult life in Germany. Americans - and I'll refer to them as such (as opposed to 'Californians'), being that there are so many New York and Chicago transplants in SoCal - were just as curious about Germany as I was about the U.S, although the topics of interest were rather odd. Do Germans still like Hitler? Is it true there are no speed limits? Do Germans wear lederhosen? I'll skip the stereotypes for now and move on to more current themes, as you can find them on https://civey.com/umfragen. What Americans think these days is open to a lot of speculation, but this is what the Germans think about current events:
- Almost 60% of all Germans seem to think that corruption has increased in their country.
- Three out of four Germans think that the biggest problem with the healthcare system is either a) a lack of qualified nursing personnel, b) the substandard pay of said staff and c) the inequality between private and public heath care plans.
- 61 percent of all Germans believe their country is the most powerful within the European Union, while 26 percent believe France is the leading force.
- 41 percent (!) of all Germans believe that the new great coalition that consists of the central-right Christian Democrats and the central-left Social Democrats will not change anything for the better.
- Almost half of all Germans believe that public transportation should be free, since this would seem to reduce the carbon footprint left by private vehicles.
- 61 percent of all Germans feel that they should work less...by law.
- 83 percent of all Germans are dead against hoarding tax euros in offshore tax havens.
- Germans seem undecided whether they would like to see at least a partial forgiveness of all debts accumulated by Greece.
- 73 percent of all Germans wish to see a reduction of their own national debt. Germany's national debt currently lies at around 62% of its GDP.
- Only seven percent of all Germans believe that the lyrics to the national anthem should be gender neutral, being that terms such as 'fatherland' and 'brotherly' are used.
- Only 20% of all Germans believe that the year 2017 was personally negative for them.
- Only 25% believe that the tarifs proposed by the U.S. will spark a new trade war.
- More than half of all Germans are decidedly against a toll to use inner city streets.
- And oh, about the autobahn: 40% of all Germans believe there shouldn't be a speed limit on the autobahn, while 40% think there should be a limit of 130 km/h, or 80 mph.
- And one for (rather against) Hitler: more than 60% of all Germans believe that anti-semitism is on the rise.
No lederhosen question. I have to draw the line somewhere.
- And oh, about the autobahn: 40% of all Germans believe there shouldn't be a speed limit on the autobahn, while 40% think there should be a limit of 130 km/h, or 80 mph.
- And one for (rather against) Hitler: more than 60% of all Germans believe that anti-semitism is on the rise.
No lederhosen question. I have to draw the line somewhere.
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