I would doubt that Schmidt was as popular as Brandt.

ah, thanks.. sometimes I should just think of the easiest way, not the most complicated =)
but isn't there an expression that matches better that "ähnlich"?

"Schmidt was as popular as his predecessor" isn't exactly what I want to say (klingt mehr nach "Schmidt war genauso beliebt wie sein Vorgänger2)
and by the way, this is in a different context, I just shortened it because it's not relevant for the actual question...