Voters want Chancellor Merkel to quit her term early, says poll

47% of respondents want her to step aside before 2021

German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

If Angela Merkel becomes German Chancellor again, nearly half of voters would want her to quit her term early, according to a poll offering a rare sign that domestic support for Europe’s most influential leader may be waning.

Ms. Merkel’s conservatives won a national election in September, setting her up for a fourth stint in office. But they bled support to the far Right, and talks on a three-way coalition with the Greens and the pro-business Free Democrats collapsed in November.

The YouGov survey, commissioned by Germany’s DPA agency and published in Wednesday’s

Die Welt newspaper, showed that 47% of respondents wanted Ms. Merkel to step aside before 2021, when her fourth term would end — up from 36% in a poll taken at the beginning of October. By contrast, 36% want her to serve a full four years, compared to 44% three months ago.

Ms. Merkel’s conservatives and the Social Democratic Party (SPD) have said they will start exploratory coalition talks on January 7.