German Chancellor Angela Merkel held a town hall-style meeting with voters on Sunday, using the format more familiar to U.S. politics to seek voters' backing ahead of elections in September, Reuters reported.
Merkel, described by one participant in the forum as a "tough woman in a man's world," used the meeting to soften her usual cool, business-like demeanor by opening up to the audience about her belief in God and her life at home.
Germany's first woman chancellor is popular with voters and is perceived as a competent consensus builder, though she often lacks the charisma of her predecessor, Gerhard Schroeder.
She remained seated throughout Sunday's forum -- not walking around and talking directly to her questioners as is common in the United States. She dispensed practical advice.
"You can support your family best if you focus on learning a skill," she told a 21-year-old unemployed man.
She suggested he train as a care worker, rather than trying to find work as a gardener. When he replied that he didn't fancy care work, she replied: "Think about widening your scope."
He said he appreciated her advice.
Merkel's Christian Democrats (CDU) are struggling to come up with a winning policy program for the election and have decided to focus the campaign on Merkel, whose popularity exceeds that of her party.
Part of that effort involves softening her image and convincing the electorate she and her party, traditionally seen as pro-business, understand their troubles and will work to shield Germans from the worst of the financial crisis.
Close to 300,000 jobs have now been lost in Germany since the collapse of U.S. investment bank Lehman Brothers in September set off a new wave of financial and economic turmoil.
Merkel advised one woman who had invested in Lehman and lost her savings to take legal action against her financial adviser, as she did not appear to have received an obligatory warning about the risks of the investment.
Merkel said she expected the economy, which is facing its deepest post-war recession, would soon reach its low point. Germany enjoyed solid economic growth and falling unemployment under her government, until the economy stumbled last year.
Merkel's conservatives share power in an awkward coalition with the Social Democrats (SPD), and may end up doing so again after the election. An ARD poll this week put the conservatives on 35 percent, the SPD on 28 percent and the liberal Free Democrats on 13 percent.
Merkel, 54, used the town hall-style meeting to portray herself as an ordinary person.
"I have to fold my own clothes at home and fill the washing machine," she said, adding that her husband didn't just "pat and cuddle" her but wanted her to contribute to their life together.
Merkel learned a lesson in the last election in 2005 when she advocated far-reaching changes to labor market and tax policy only to see a large poll lead evaporate in the weeks before the vote as Schroeder portrayed her as a cold reformer.
She ended up narrowly winning the election and since then has shifted her policies to the left.
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