BERLIN - Just over 80 percent of Germans approve of Angela Merkel’s performance as chancellor, according to a poll Friday, which also showed nearly three-quarters judged 2012 to have been a good year. The Politbarometer monthly survey revealed that a record 81 percent of those asked thought Merkel, who will seek a third term in elections next year, was doing her job at the helm of Europe’s top economy “if anything, well”. 62pc thought the same for the work of the coalition government compared to 30 percent who said it was performing “if anything, badly”.