55 per cent of Germans back Merkel on Greece: poll

(BERLIN) - Over half of Germans support Chancellor Angela Merkel on the latest bailout deal for Athens, while almost one third would have preferred a "Grexit", a poll said Tuesday.

A full 81 percent said they doubted that the Greek government would actually implement the agreed reforms.

The survey found that 55 percent said Merkel had acted correctly in the marathon negotiations that led to a provisional deal for more bailout cash in return for draconian reforms.

Of the 1,001 respondents, 31 percent said Merkel should have pushed to force Greece out of the eurozone, according to the Forsa Institute poll conducted Monday for Stern weekly and RTL television.

A separate Forsa poll conducted last week, before the Greece crisis talks, found Merkel's approval rating remained high at 56 percent, and support for her conservative party stood unchanged at 42 percent.

Merkel and her hardline finance minister, Wolfgang Schaeuble, drove a hard bargain at the talks, demanding painful reforms and a parliamentary vote by Wednesday on key austerity measures as part of an 85 billion euro bailout deal.