Politbarometer 1997 (Cumulated Data Set)

The Politbarometer has been conducted since 1977 on an almost monthly basis by the Forschungsgruppe Wahlen on behalf of the Second German Television (ZDF). Since 1990, this database has also been available for the new German states. The survey focuses on the opinions and attitudes of the voting-age population in the Federal Republic on current political issues, parties, politicians, and voting behavior. From 1990 to 1995 and from 1999 onward, the Politbarometer surveys were conducted separately both in the newly formed eastern and in the western German states (Politbarometer East and Politbarometer West). The separate monthly surveys of a year are integrated into a cumulative data set that includes all surveys of a year and all variables of the respective year. Starting in 2003, the Politbarometer short surveys, collected with varying frequency throughout the year, are integrated into the annual cumulation.<br>Cumulated data set of the Politbarometers for 1997. Attitude to current
political questions. Judgement on parties and politicians. Topics: The
following topics were repeated identically at every survey period: most
important political problems in the Federal Republic; party preference
(Sunday question, rank order procedure); behavior at the polls in the
last Federal Parliament election; sympathy scale for the parties and
for selected politicians; preference for federal chancellor; attitude
to Kohl as candidate for chancellor in the next Federal Parliament
election; judgement on the general economic situation in the Federal
Republic and personal economic situation; government most able to solve
the economic problems in Germany; expected economic situation;
satisfaction with the achievements of the Federal Government and those
of the opposition parties in Bonn; self-assessment on a left-right
continuum; jeopardy to one´s own job; jeopardy to the job of close
persons; party inclination and party identification; union membership;
religiousness; survey date. In at least one or several survey months
these additional questions were posed: coalition preference; attitude
to a grand coalition and the statement of willingness to form a
coalition by the SPD before the next Federal Parliament election;
attitude to government participation by the PDS; most important
politicians in Germany; knowledge of PDS politicians; assessment of the
necessity of a change of government; preferred candidate for chancellor
of the CDU/CSU instead of Kohl; preferred SPD candidate for chancellor;
preferred time of decision of the SPD about its candidate for
chancellor; judgement on the achievements of the Federal Minister of
Finance (Theo Waigel) and desire for change of office-holder;
characterization of the parties in Federal Parliament, CDU and SPD, as
modern in economic questions; judgement on the coalition loyalty of the
CSU as well as the FDP; satisfaction with democracy in the Federal
Republic; interest in politics; the right people in leading positions;
characterization of the condition of society in the Federal Republic
and comparison with Western European neighbors; expected change of the
general economic situation in the Federal Republic for the future and
personal economic situation for the next year; government most able to
create new jobs; ability of an SPD-led or a CDU/CSU-led Federal
Government to solve the finance problems; government most able to solve
future problems in Germany; government most able to protect pensions,
protect against external threats, combat crime, maintain a stabile
currency and represent the interests of Germany in the EU; expected
solvability of unemployment in Germany; most important reasons for the
increase of costs in the public health system; preference for increase
in health insurance fees, increase in co-payment of patients or
reductions in the public health system; preference for tax increases,
additional borrowing, privatization of public tasks or reduction of
governmental expenditures to finance government tasks; political,
scientific and social areas for economy measures; sales tax increase
versus introduction of an energy tax; preferred possibilities of
financing pensions (increase in pension fund contributions, increase in
value added tax, increase in petroleum tax or reduction of pensions);
attitude to increase in pension contributions or increase in private
provision for old age; approval of reduction of the amount of pension
and pension contributions until 2015; preference for reduction of
pensions or an increase in pension contributions; judgement on the
standard of living of pensioners; judgement on the financial security
of retirement pensions; approval of reduction of pension contributions
for workers with children; approval of introduction of social security
obligation for jobs with slight income; expectations of the tax reform;
assigning blame to CDU or SPD for the failure of agreement regarding
the planned tax reform; judgement on the effects of failure of tax
reform on economic development in Germany; party most competent for tax
policies; attitude to taxation of life insurance; approval of taxation
of particularly high pensions; attitude to taxation of supplements for
night and Sunday work; attitude to elimination of tax advantages for
married couples without children; attitude to reduction of the highest
tax rate to 39%; approval of reduction of the highest tax rate of 53%
to 49% with concurrent reduction of tax benefits to the same extent;
approval of reduction of the highest tax rate without concurrent
increase of other tax revenues; approval of reduction of the time
worked each week to 32 hours without full wage compensation; expected
influence of introduction of a 32-hour-week on reduction of
unemployment and on international competitive ability; approval of
military intervention of the European Union in Albania and approval of
German military participation; perceived threat from crime;
advantageousness of membership of the country in the EU; attitude to
introduction of a common European currency; expectation of advantages
or disadvantages from introduction of a common European currency for
the country in general and for the respondent in particular;
expectation of advantages or disadvantages for the German economy from
introduction of a common European currency; judgement on the
consequences of introduction of the Euro regarding the political
influence of Germany in Europe, unemployment in Germany, the cost of
living in Germany and the safety of savings; judgement on the stability
of the future European currency in comparison to the DM; expected
introduction of a European currency on schedule; judgement on
introduction of the Euro as an important topic; attitude to reduction
in the solidarity surcharge; attitude to extending repayment of old
debts of the GDR and reducing the solidarity surcharge; assessment of
the voters for right-wing radical parties as protest voters or
dedicated supporters; judgement on those guilty of the crimes during
National Socialism; judgement on the responsibility of the post-war
generation for the crimes of the time of Hitler; approval of conclusion
of discussion about National Socialism; judgement on the job of the
Federal Government and the achievements of the individual partners in
the government; SPD government as better alternative; attitude to
reduction of the voting age in state parliament elections from 18 to
16; expected election winner in the next Federal Parliament election;
personal significance of members of government; assessment of the PDS
as continuation of the SED; attitude to cooperation of other parties
with the PDS; judgement whether there is too much complaining in
Germany; association with ´religion´ and ´church´; significance of
religion for respondent and desired significance for society; most
important tasks of the church for respondent; approval of the demands
of the Greens for dissolution of NATO and increasing the gasoline price
to 4.30 DM within 10 years; attitude to the spelling reform; interest
in soccer broadcasts on television; attitude to sole broadcast of the
world soccer championship on a pay station and willingness to pay for
soccer games on television; approval of reduction of the blood-alcohol
limit in traffic from 0.8 to 0.5; attitude to the strikes and protests
of students at German universities; judgement on the government´s
moving to Berlin; retrospect on the year 1997 and prospect for the
coming year. Demography: number of persons in household; number of
persons in household over 18 years old; number of children in
household; number of school-age children in household; number of
children between 6 and 12 years old in household; age (classified);
marital status; sex; living together with a partner; school degree;
college degree; vocational training; employment; occupational group;
occupational position; head of household; employment, occupational
group, occupational position and journeymen´s test of head of
household. Also encoded was: administrative district; state; city size.