BERLIN: Chancellor Angela Merkel's party is at its most popular since winning a second term in 2009, polls showed Wednesday, as voters cheered her handling of a debt crisis that most Germans think can be overcome.

Amid criticism from some quarters that her hardline push for austerity in debt-wracked countries risks tipping the eurozone into recession, Merkel's conservative Christian Democrats (CDU) are polling 38 percent, a survey showed.

That is the highest level since August 2009, a month before the election that swept her to a second term at the helm of Europe's top economy.

The survey, conducted by the Forsa polling institute for Stern magazine, showed her junior coalition partners, the pro-business Free Democrats, languishing at three percent.

However, due to the CDU's strength, the current coalition was still ahead of their most likely opponents -- a mix of the centre-left Social Democrats (SPD) and ecologist Greens, which are polling at 27 and 13 percent respectively.

"She is clearly pulling the union up," said Manfred Guellner from the Forsa institute, referring to Merkel's party.

Henrik Uterwedde, a political scientist at the Franco-German institute in Ludwigsburg, southwestern Germany, said the country's own strong economic performance throughout the crisis had bolstered support for Merkel.

"Unemployment has dropped sharply in Germany and it might drop even more this year despite the difficulties. Germany has become a leader in terms of economic performance this year," he told AFP.

Merkel is also giving the impression, especially at home, that she is defending German interests in Europe when it comes to the crisis, he added.

A separate poll, also by Forsa for Stern magazine, showed 53 percent of Germans believe the common currency "can be defended", compared to only 41 percent that held this view in October 2011.

Since the beginning of the year, sentiment has begun to turn around in the markets, following almost half a trillion euros (dollars) injected into the banking system by the European Central Bank and tentative signs of recovery.

Among those leading Europe's fight against the crisis, Germans think most of Jean-Claude Juncker -- head of the eurozone finance ministers -- who enjoys a 76-percent approval rating.

Italian Premier Mario Monti follows with 60 percent, just ahead of Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso with 56 percent.

Towards the other end of the scale is French President and Merkel ally Nicolas Sarkozy, of whom only 46 percent of Germans approve and Greece's interim leader Lucas Papademos, who has a rating of only 37 percent.

An earlier survey, published on Friday, showed that Merkel's own approval rating domestically also stood at a two-year high, with 64 percent of her constituents saying they approved of her job performance.

Respondents said they admired Merkel as "honest and not seeking her own advantage" (73 percent), for taking "correct and decisive action" in the eurozone crisis (61 percent) and for "not acting like a partisan politician but as someone who is above the fray" (55 percent).

Eight-five percent appreciated "how she represents our country in the world," according to the poll for ARD television.

The party political poll was conducted between January 30 and February 3, with 2,500 people surveyed. The crisis poll was conducted on February 2, with 1,003 voters asked their view.