Almost half of Germans are of the opinion that private households and industry alike should be restricted when it comes to a state allocation of energy. This is the result of an exclusive Civey survey commissioned by the Tagesspiegel. A quarter of Germans are of the opinion that private households or industry should be restricted first.
Federal Minister of Economics Robert Habeck (Greens) recently questioned the prioritization of consumers over industry in the event of a gas shortage. Private households would also have to “pay their share,” said Habeck. Because “a permanent or long-term interruption of industrial production” would have “massive consequences” for the supply situation.
There are isolated differences among the voters of the parties represented in the Bundestag when it comes to the question of state allocation of energy. Only the majority of CDU and SPD voters see it as private households and industry should be equally restricted.
Among the FDP voters, the proportion of those who call for a priority restriction of private households is the highest at 30 percent. Among left-wing voters, the proportion of those who call for a priority restriction of industry is by far the highest (44 percent).
A comparison of the age groups shows that young adults between the ages of 18 and 29 are most likely to want private households to be restricted if there is a government allocation of energy (39 percent).
On the other hand, people aged between 30 and 39 are the ones who think the industry should be restricted first. The over 65 age group is the only one with a majority that believes that private households and industry should be equally restricted.
There were only major deviations from the overall German distribution in the four federal states of Brandenburg, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Saarland and Saxony-Anhalt. In Brandenburg and Saxony-Anhalt, only every fifth person is of the opinion that private households should be restricted first, while almost 30 percent are in favor of industry.
In Saarland, the distribution is exactly the opposite: there, only every fifth person wants industry to be restricted first.
The largest deviation is in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania: while only 17 percent of the people there want to see private households restricted first, twice as many people call for priority restrictions on industry in the event of a state allocation of energy. Also interesting: Berlin is the only federal state in which the majority of the population wants to see private households and industry equally restricted.
For the representative survey, 5001 people in Germany were interviewed on July 13th and 14th. The results are rounded. The specific question was: “Assuming there is a government allocation of energy, do you think private households or industry should be restricted first?”
