Historical rankings of chancellors of Germany

Historical rankings of Chancellors of Germany are surveys conducted to construct rankings of the success and popularity of the individuals who have served as Chancellor of Germany in the Federal Republic of Germany.

Opinion polls

Overview

• Blue backgrounds indicate first quartile.
• Green backgrounds indicate second quartile.
• Orange backgrounds indicate third quartile.
• Red backgrounds indicate fourth quartile.

Sequence	Chancellor	Political party	ZDF (2003)	Forsa (2005)	Emnid (2005)	Infratest dimap (2010)	Forsa (2013)	YouGov (2015)	Aggr.
1	Konrad Adenauer	CDU	01	01	03	–	02	02	01
2	Ludwig Erhard	CDU	05	05	06	–	07	07	07
3	Kurt Georg Kiesinger	CDU	–	07	07	–	08	08	08
4	Willy Brandt	SPD	02	02	04	02	03	04	03
(4)	Walter Scheel ^	FDP	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
5	Helmut Schmidt	SPD	04	03	01	01	01	01	02
6	Helmut Kohl	CDU	03	04	02	04	04	05	05
7	Gerhard Schröder	SPD	06	06	05	05	06	06	06
8	Angela Merkel	CDU	–	–	–	03	05	02	04

^ Following Willy Brandt's resignation as Chancellor, Walter Scheel was acting Chancellor for a few days.

ZDF (2003)

For the TV show Unsere Besten, more than 1 million Germans were asked to rank the 100 most notable Germans in an unrepresentative opinion poll. The list also included German Chancellors:

1. Konrad Adenauer
2. Willy Brandt
3. Helmut Kohl
4. Helmut Schmidt
5. Ludwig Erhard
6. Gerhard Schröder

Neither Kurt Georg Kiesinger nor Angela Merkel (who was leader of the opposition at that time) were ranked among the 100 most notable Germans.

Forsa (2005)

In an opinion poll conducted by Forsa in July 2005, the 1002 pollees were supposed to name the most notable German Chancellor:

1. Konrad Adenauer – 35%
2. Willy Brandt – 20%
3. Helmut Schmidt – 18%
4. Helmut Kohl – 17%
5. Ludwig Erhard – 5%
6. Gerhard Schröder – 1%
7. Kurt Georg Kiesinger – 0%

It was not asked for the most recent Chancellor Angela Merkel since she assumed office in November 2005.

Emnid (2005)

In an opinion poll from November 2005, the polling company Emnid asked for the best German Chancellor:

1. Helmut Schmidt – 28%
2. Helmut Kohl – 18%
3. Konrad Adenauer – 17%
4. Willy Brandt – 15%
5. Gerhard Schröder – 10%
6. Ludwig Erhard – 3%
7. Kurt Georg Kiesinger – 1%

It was not asked for the most recent Chancellor Angela Merkel since she assumed office in November 2005.

Infratest dimap (2010)

In March 2010, Infratest dimap asked 1500 people for their view of the term in office of German Chancellors. The given numbers show the percentage of people agreeing with the statement that the named Chancellor was a good one:

1. Helmut Schmidt – 75%
2. Willy Brandt – 68%
3. Angela Merkel – 67%
4. Helmut Kohl – 59%
5. Gerhard Schröder – 47%

It was not asked for the first three German Chancellors (Adenauer, Erhard, Kiesinger).

Forsa (2013)

In December 2013, Forsa reasked 1002 Germans to name the most notable German Chancellor:

1. Helmut Schmidt – 25%
2. Konrad Adenauer – 23%
3. Willy Brandt – 18%
4. Helmut Kohl – 17%
5. Angela Merkel – 6%
6. Gerhard Schröder – 3%
7. Ludwig Erhard – 2%
8. Kurt Georg Kiesinger – 0%

YouGov (2015)

In May 2015, YouGov asked 1111 Germans to name the best German Chancellor in their opinion:

1. Helmut Schmidt – 24%
2. Konrad Adenauer and Angela Merkel – 18%
3. Willy Brandt – 15%
4. Helmut Kohl – 9%
5. Gerhard Schröder – 5%
6. Ludwig Erhard – 4%
7. Kurt Georg Kiesinger – 1%

See also

• Historical rankings of Australian Prime Ministers
• Historical rankings of Prime Ministers of the United Kingdom
• Historical rankings of Presidents of the United States
• Historical rankings of Prime Ministers of Canada
• Historical rankings of Prime Ministers of the Netherlands