Public AffairsSurvey 2015
For the 14th consecutive year, we asked public affairs professionals in Germany to evaluate the political status quo and tell us about the latest developments in the public affairs sector. The following is a summary of the key results of this year’s survey:
Confidence in politics restored Following a notable dip in the first year of the Grand Coalition (22 per cent), confidence in politicians and their actions bounced back this year, with 39 per cent of respondents saying that politicians were ‘reliable partners’. Christian Democrats received the greatest vote of confidence. 89 per cent of respondents considered their relationships with the CDU to be ‘constructive’.
Government’s approval ratings improve Similarly, confidence in the Grand Coalition’s performance went up. 57 per cent said that the Federal Government was doing a ‘good job’, an improvement of 14 per cent on last year. Especially the Government’s foreign trade policy, which includes TTIP, was rated favourably by public affairs professionals. Opposition parties (i. e. Greens and Left Party), on the other hand, were given negative ratings.
Public affairs spending goes up Corporations and trade associations increased their spending on public affairs in the past 12 months. 39 per cent spent more on public affairs personnel, while 45 per cent increased their spending on external service providers, including consulting work. Of these, more than half favoured full-service consultancies with a strong public affairs offering, as opposed to public affairs only outfits or law firms.
Digital public affairs continues to grow The use of social media is becoming even more commonplace in public affairs. 52 per cent of respondents use Twitter, while 36 per cent rely on Facebook, 29 per cent on the German-centric career platform Xing, and 25 per cent on its international counterpart LinkedIn.
3 MSL Germany Public Affairs Survey 2015
Do you consider policy-makers to be reliable partners for your company/association? Policy-makers …
39 %
… are, and will remain, reliable partners
14 %
… will be less reliable partners in future
45 %
… are already less reliable partners today
2 %
… are no longer reliable partners
4 MSL Germany Public Affairs Survey 2015
29 % Liberals
89 %
Christian Democrats
34 %
Christian Social Democrats
59 %
Social Democrats
16 %
Green Party
With which political party, or parties, do you work most closely? (multiple answers possible)
4 %
The Left
5 MSL Germany Public Affairs Survey 2015
How do you evaluate the Grand Coalition’s performance after the first half of the current legislative term? 57 % good
2 %
no answer
41 % poor
6 MSL Germany Public Affairs Survey 2015
How do you rate the federal government’s performance? (in the following policy areas)
Dig 2 %
2 %
5 %
2 %
18 %
20 %
21 %
29 %
32 %
39 %
50 %
48 %
43 %
30 %
45 %
20 %
23 %
29 %
23 %
34 %
4 %
4 %
1 %
11 %
5 %
14 %
37 %
Fo Ag o d a ric nd ult ure
se De fen
La S o b or a cia nd lA f fa ir
Po ita l
rg y
s
En e 2 %
lic y
Tra inf nsp a s t or t r uc an tur d e 2 %
no
an
sw
er
ve
ry
po
or
po
or
go
od
ve
ry
go
od
1/2
7 %
7 MSL Germany Public Affairs Survey 2015
How do you rate the federal government’s performance? (in the following policy areas)
e Tra d i gn Fo re
Ed Te ucat ch ion no log , Re y a s ea nd rch inn , ov ati on He alt h
Ec on
an Ta x
om y
dF ina
nt me En vir on
0 %
2 %
4 %
2 %
0 %
2 %
0 %
39 %
43 %
46 %
50 %
59 %
61 %
73 %
34%
43%
38%
36 %
25 %
14 %
11 %
11 %
5 %
11 %
9%
4 %
7 %
2 %
1 %
3 %
12 %
16 %
14 %
ve
ry
po
or
po
or
go
od
ve
ry
go
od
Co Pro nsum tec er tio n
nc e
2/2
no
an
sw
er
16 %
7 %
8 MSL Germany Public Affairs Survey 2015
finance
Did you increase or decrease resources allocated to public affairs the past year?
human resources
45 %
We allocated more financial resources to public affairs
39 %
We allocated more human resources to public affairs
(multiple answers possible)
5 %
5 %
No change
No change
20 %
We allocated fewer financial resources to public affairs
5 %
No answer
32 %
We allocated fewer human resources to public affairs
5 %
No answer
9 MSL Germany Public Affairs Survey 2015
Which types of consultancy do you work with? (multiple answers possible)
55 %
Full-service agencies with expertise in public affairs
10 %
Business consultancies
8 %
Law firms
13 %
Agencies specialized on public affairs
12 %
Independant consultants
10 MSL Survey 2015 Germany Public Public Affairs Affairs-Umfrage 2015 10 MSL Germany
When using digital channels in your public affairs work, which ones do you use? (multiple answers possible)
52 % Twitter
36 %
29 % Xing
13 %
Blogs
7 %
25 %
Own policy channel / Micro-Site
14 %
5 % Wikipedia 2 % Periscope
YouTube 2 % Instagram
The complete survey in German is available for download here:
www.mslgroup.de For more information please contact Simon Temps: Phone: + 49 30 / 820 82 – 525 | E-Mail: simon.temps@mslgroup.com
MSL Group Germany GmbH Leibnizstraße 65, 10629 Berlin facebook: www.facebook.com/MSLGroupGermany twitter: @MSL_Germany