Only 26% of Germans believe Armin Laschet, the state premier who is the conservative candidate to succeed Angela Merkel as chancellor, is a good crisis manager, according to a Civey poll for Der Spiegel.

According to the poll, the first indication of how the flood catastrophe may play out in September’s path-defining national election, 41% of Germans think that Laschet’s Social Democrat challenger, Finance Minister Olaf Scholz, is a good crisis manager.

For Annalena Baerbock, candidate of the Greens, running second in polls behind the conservatives, that figure stood at only 24%, the poll showed.

The polling was conducted from July 16-18, after the floods struck.

Reuters