Armin Laschet asserted himself best at the Triell of Chancellor Candidates on RTL.

This is what the readers of FAZ.NET say: 43 percent of the survey participants see him clearly ahead, 26 percent think Olaf Scholz was the best.

Or not?

36 percent of 2500 allegedly representative selected in a Forsa survey, as it was said on RTL and ntv after the Triell, said Scholz had "all in all won".

Thirty percent of Annalena Baerbock said this, and 25 percent of Armin Laschet.

This means?

The Bild newspaper knows exactly: “Debate debacle for Laschet.

Clear victory for Scholz on TV ”.

Michael Hanfeld

responsible editor for features online and "media".

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So it's that simple: Annalena Baerbock, Armin Laschet and Olaf Scholz debate for more than an hour and a half on television, fill rehearsed roles, are occasionally lured out of reserve by the moderators Pinar Atalay and Peter Kloeppel, and then - someone moves in few numbers out of the hat.

Suddenly everyone knows what they have seen: a radiant winner, who was previously said to have “drizzled” to himself, a competent challenger who had previously identified weaknesses, and the losers in the league, to whom one had been credited that he was combative.

Perfect suggestion by means of bogus evidence: hand me a piece of paper with a few numbers, and then things will work out.

How was that with Saxony-Anhalt?

Does anyone still remember the polls before the state elections in Saxony-Anhalt? The institutes had forecast a head-to-head race between the CDU and AfD, and in the end there were sixteen percentage points between the two parties. But that's forgiven and forgotten in this triumph, in which RTL and ntv as organizers initially leave a good impression, which they then erase with the program “Baerbock, Laschet, Scholz - Who was the best?”. Because there are five people sitting together at Frauke Ludowig, whose common qualification is that they do “something with the media”: Günther Jauch, the dance teacher and “Let's Dance” judge Motsi Mabuse, the blogger Louisa Dellert, the presenter Micky Beisenherz and the RTL / ntv politician Nikolaus Blome. The latter has the role of journalistic analysis,Jauch and Beisenherz go hunting for punch lines, Louisa Dellert doesn't seem to be “solution-oriented” enough, and Motsi Mabuse deals with the body language of the candidates. Annalena Baerbock thinks she is fantastic (her movements, like her statements, seemed to us to be the most well-rehearsed), Armin Laschet, on the other hand, “aggro” (keyword from Jauch): “I always have the feeling that he is scolding.” She imagines she has to go with us someone who works in the office, they can see what's going on right away. Something like that doesn't go down well in Germany.Armin Laschet, on the other hand, “aggro” (key word from Jauch): “I always have the feeling that he is scolding.” She imagines that she has to work with someone like that in the office, so she can see what is going on right away. Something like that doesn't go down well in Germany.Armin Laschet, on the other hand, “aggro” (key word from Jauch): “I always have the feeling that he is scolding.” She imagines that she has to work with someone like that in the office, so she can see what is going on right away. Something like that doesn't go down well in Germany.

It is already clear that an election show like the Triell is only secondarily about arguments and political content. These are demanded with ardor, but are not really demanded. It is important for the candidates to encourage their supporters and impress those who are undecided. Personal appearance counts. And the assessments differ widely. But should we at least ask for a little less tabloid nonsense and cheerleader-like she-I-and-I-don't-like when assessing it, including at RTL? The general election is about a little more than that.

Incidentally, the trio on RTL had phenomenal audience ratings: "11.48 million different viewers aged 3 and over" saw it, reports RTL. The panel discussion afterwards came to 7.89 million. Isn't that amazing? Is not it. These are net numbers. You name the number of people who switch on one of the RTL offers in the course of the evening. On average, the trio on RTL and ntv came together to 5.6 million viewers, the chat afterwards to 4.2 million. With an average of sixteen million viewers in the duel between Merkel and Schulz four years ago, this is modest and not the sensational success that the station suggests with the push of numbers. That fits in with this evening, after which Scholz can feel like Chancellor. What a win! But you could also say: sighted giant on RTL,and he can't dance either.