GETTY Angela Merkel will struggle to win back public confidence after migrants fiasco

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Mrs Merkel has taken responsibility for her Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party’s poor showing at the polls and admitted making mistakes in the handling of the migrant crisis. But she stopped short of saying her decision to allow more than a million refugees to flood into Germany was wrong despite facing severe criticism. An opinion poll has revealed only over a third of Germans believe Mrs Merkel’s comments have done enough to win back the trust of the electorate.

GETTY Migrants arrive in Germany

The survey by pollsters TNS Emnid asked the specific question: Chancellor Angela Merkel has acknowledged errors in the refugee policy earlier this week. Do you think that she can thereby regain lost trust among citizens? Results showed 58 per cent of Germans do not believe she can successfully gain back trust despite admitting she had made mistakes. That figure rose to 91 per cent among voters who backed the anti-immigration Alternative for Germany (AfD) party. For Free Democratic Party voters it was 71 per cent, followed by Social Democratic Party (SPD) voters at 61 per cent. The poll showed supporters of the CDU and Christian Social Union (CSU) were more optimistic with 58 per cent believing Mrs Merkel may well recover trust as a result of her post-election comments.

GETTY Angela Merkel suffered a drubbing in the state elections

For some time, we didn’t have enough control. No one wants a repeat of last year’s situation, including me Angela Merkel

The Chancellor said her mistake with the migrant crisis was she and her government had not been quicker to prepare for the mass movement of people triggered by conflicts in the Middle East. She said: “If I could, I would turn back time by many, many years, so that I could have prepared the whole government and the authorities for the situation which hit us out of the blue in the late summer of 2015. “For some time, we didn’t have enough control. No one wants a repeat of last year’s situation, including me.”

GETTY Angela Merkel's migrant policies saw more than 1.1 million people enter Germany last year

Angela Merkel in pictures Tue, August 8, 2017 Angela Merkel has served as German Chancellor since 2005 and Leader of the Christian Democratic Union since 2000. We take a look at her political career in pictures. Play slideshow AFP/Getty Images 1 of 83 Angela Merkel through the years