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 years 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.

Governments approval
ratings improve
Similarly, confidence in the Grand Coalitions 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 Governments
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 Coalitions 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

governments 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

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

governments 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%

Facebook

29%
Xing

13%

Blogs

7%

25%

Own policy
channel /
Micro-Site

LinkedIn

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

Leibnizstrae 65, 10629 Berlin
facebook: www.facebook.com/MSLGroupGermany
twitter: @MSL_Germany