The results of the Infratest Dimap survey, published in Die Welt newspaper, will provide political cover for Merkel as she faces increased calls in the euro zone for a softening of fiscal discipline and a greater emphasis on boosting economic growth.
The poll showed 55 percent of Germans favor keeping the focus on budget discipline - including a majority of those supporting the main opposition parties - and only 33 percent back growth initiatives funded by new credits.
Germany’s own economy, the largest in Europe, is performing strongly despite the euro zone debt crisis and unemployment is at two-decade lows. But German taxpayers are unhappy about having to bail out heavily indebted countries such as Greece which many here regard as spendthrift and feckless.
Socialist candidate Francois Hollande, tipped to win France’s presidential runoff on Sunday, has said he will make reviving economic growth his top priority if elected and has criticized Merkel’s heavy focus on budget cuts and tax hikes.
The survey showed 50 percent of Germans polled backed French President Nicolas Sarkozy, a center-right ally of Merkel, for a second five-year term, while only 24 percent preferred Hollande.
At home, Merkel’s Christian Democrats (CDU) remain the most popular party with 34 percent, comfortably ahead of the center-left Social Democrats (SPD) at 28 percent, the poll showed.
But the CDU’s current coalition ally, the liberal Free Democrats, would win only 4 percent of the vote, below the 5 percent threshold for entering parliament. This would force Merkel to look for another coalition partner.
Political analysts see a ‘grand coalition’ of the CDU and the SPD as the most likely alternative if the FDP is ousted from the Bundestag lower house after the 2013 national election.
The Infratest Dimap poll was conducted among 1,004 people on April 30 and May 1.
