Fiscally conservative Romney-Ryan ticket: Does it appeal in Germany?
(Read article summary)Germany has promoted austerity as central to fixing eurozone woes. So is there any resonance between Chancellor Merkel's views and the Romney-Ryan ticket?
With America's election day getting closer, Germans are following the tightening race between President Obama and Republican challenger Mitt Romney with increasing enthusiasm. Four years after Mr. Obama entered the White House he is still highly popular. But could Germans' interest in Romney rise with Paul Ryan on his ticket?
Consider: Romney, like German Chancellor Angela Merkel, is a fiscal conservative. In a time of global economic crisis, his support for spending cuts in the federal budget could in theory prove highly popular especially with “Madame No,” the power player in the euro crisis. Meanwhile, Obama's heroic status has inevitably come down to earth overseas. A Pew Research study from June 2012 shows that global approval of the policies Obama has promoted has declined significantly since he first took office, though in Germany, 87 percent of participants still expressed confidence overall in the president.
Stimulus packages
But throughout the economic crisis, the Obama White House was encouraging Germany to support more debt-increasing stimulus packages. Germany resisted, with Mrs. Merkel arguing that decreasing the debt was the solution for regaining political authority.
