Merkel enjoys trust of 57% of Germans

Chancellor Angela Merkel enjoys the trust of 57 per cent of Germans questioned in a survey for the television channel ARD that was released Saturday. "Despite the crisis and criticism, Chancellor Angela Merkel enjoys a high level of credit among Germans," the channel said in a statement, adding: "Nearly six citizens in 10 (57 percent) consider Merkel a political figure one can trust." The poll carried out for the station by the Infratest institute concerned a representative sample of 1,000 German voters, ARD said. The conservative Merkel was named the world's most powerful woman by Forbes magazine this month for the fifth time in six years. Early last month another survey found that 58 per cent of Germans approved her handling of the eurozone crisis, and she was by far the most popular politician in the country with two-thirds of respondents saying they had a favourable opinion of her.