Few Germans expect Trump to finish presidential term

Less than 25 percent of Germans think US President Donald Trump will complete his four-year term in office, according to a public opinion poll released Saturday.

More than two-thirds of those surveyed said categorically that they believe Trump will be out of office before his term expires in January 2021. The survey was conducted by Civey, an opinion research group, for the daily newspaper Die Welt.

Trump's support, or lack thereof, seemed to echo people's political views. That is, those more inclined to like him were more optimistic about his chances of serving out his term.

Trump's nationalistic campaign slogan, "Make America Great Again," found its strongest support among Germany's own nationalists - supporters of the far-right populist party, the Alternative for Germany (AfD). More than 56 percent of AfD supporters believe Trump will serve out his time in office.

But by a margin of four-to-one, supporters of Germany's two largest parties expect Trump to make an early exit. Among supporters of the Social Democrats (SPD), the leading opposition party, 80.7 percent believe Trump will be out of office before his four years is up.

Likewise, among supporters of Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democratic Union (CDU), 79.1 percent believe the 45th US president will be shown the door prematurely.

Just over 7 percent had no opinion, or were undecided.

The German poll, conducted May 18-19, was made up of 5,022 respondents. Those participating were asked: "Do you believe that Donald Trump will stay in office until the end of his regular term?" The poll has a margin of error of 2.5 percent.

White House rocked by scandal

Trump has just endured one of the most tumultuous two week periods of any presidency. The latest round of turmoil began May 9 when Trump fired FBI Director James Comey.

The move provoked a political firestorm in Washington because the FBI is investigating whether the Trump administration conspired with the Russian government to win the US election in November.

The White House's shifting explanations for the firing provoked further scandal.

The dismissal also came at a very inopportune time - just two days before Trump was to host Russia's foreign minister, Sergey Lavrov, and the Kremlin's ambassador to Washington, Sergey Kislyak, in the Oval Office.

All US journalists, including photographers, were barred from the event, but Lavrov brought a Russian photographer to the meeting and subsequently released his photos to the press - provoking further criticism, as well as fears among security experts who said the photographers' presence presented an opportunity for the Kremlin to plant bugging devices inside the Oval Office.

Compounding his problems, Trump then allegedly shared classified information with the Russians, betraying the source of the intelligence: Israel.

Subsequently, the Justice Department appointed a special prosecutor, former FBI director Robert Mueller, to probe potential Trump-Russia ties related to the US presidential election.

Despite Comey's firing, the FBI investigation is continuing, and it is now being reported that their probe is reaching into the upper echelons of the Trump administration.

bik/jlw (dpa)