Berlin - Criticism of German Chancellor Angela Merkel's so-far modest attempts to shield Europe's biggest economy from the global economic downturn has triggered a slump in her popularity, a poll released Tuesday showed.

A poll drawn up by the Forsa institute for Germany's Stern magazine and RTL television showed support for Merkel and her conservative political bloc edging down over the last week amid signs that Berlin was considering piecing together a new fiscal stimulus package.

Forsa said support for Merkel slipped to 47 per cent compared with 51 per cent a week ago, while her Christian Democrats lost 1 percentage point to fall to 37 per cent as figures continue to roll in pointing to tough economic times ahead for Germany.

On Sunday, at a meeting with the nation's top business and union leaders, Merkel secured a guarantee from employers that they would avoid layoffs next year as economic growth contracts.

The release of the poll comes ahead of a critical year for Merkel with the build-up to a national election in Germany in September likely to be accompanied by a sharp contraction in the nation's economy.

So far, Merkel's grand coalition government has announced a series of measures totalling up to 32 billion euros (44 billion dollars) to help spur economic growth.

But she has also faced calls from within the ranks of her own political bloc for the government to underpin the economy by cutting taxes.

Instead, however, Merkel and her government have insisted that they do not plan to take any rash action to help Germany limp through the current global economic crisis espeically measures that could involve increasing the nation's budget deficit.

Last week German Finance Minister Peer Steinbrueck lashed out at Britain's move to cut sales tax as a way of encouraging business activity.

In the meantime, Merkel's coalition partner, the Social Democrats (SPD) have benefited from the drop in support for the Chancellor and her Christian Democrat-led bloc.

Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier who has been selected by the SPD to head up their campaign for next September's national election, gained 2 percentage points in the Forsa poll with his support increasing to 25 per cent. Support for the SPD rose 1 percentage point to 24 per cent.

But that is still well behind the support for Merkel and her political bloc, as shown by the latest Forsa poll which was based on more than 2500 interviews. (dpa)