Poll shows half of Germans against sending tanks to Ukraine

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Agencies
25 Dec 2022 17:19
4 Shares

This comes against a backdrop of pressure German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has been facing with regard to demands to send tanks and more arms to Ukraine.

German-made Leopard 2 tank

A YouGov poll conducted by the German news agency DPA revealed on Sunday that 45% of Germans are against sending German-made Leopard 2 tanks.

45% of the survey's participants said they opposed supplying tanks to Ukraine, while 33% said they were not against it, and the remaining 22% did not form their own opinion on this issue.

In terms of party preferences, the results showed that voters of the Green Party expressed the strongest support, with 50% for and 25% against.

For voters of the Social Democratic Party, 41% said they were against compared to 40%.

And for voters of the Free Democratic Party, 42% said they were against as opposed to 33%.

As for opposition voters, which mainly include voters from CDU/CSU, The Left, and Alternative for Germany, the survey recorded 43% against and 38% in favor among CDU/CSU, 52% against and 32% in favor among The Left, and 76% against and 13% in favor among Alternative for Germany voters.

This comes against a backdrop of pressure German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has been facing with regard to demands to send tanks and more arms to Ukraine.

Scholz has repeatedly said that Germany will act with its allies rather than perform such a decision on its own.

On Friday, a report by The Wall Street Journal revealed that Europe, which is home to some of the largest armament producers in the world, is straining to provide enough ammunition for Ukraine and for itself, endangering NATO's ability to defend itself and its support for Kiev.

The report added that production capacity issues, a shortage of specialized people, supply-chain bottlenecks, high finance costs, and even environmental rules are impeding efforts to enhance output, posing a new challenge for the West and Ukraine in 2019.

NATO's European members are rushing to strengthen their own defenses in view of the “mounting threat presented by Moscow, and the attrition war raging between Russia and Ukraine is now evolving into a rearmament race between Moscow and Brussels," the same report added.