Soviet policies in the Judgement of German Citizens 1988

Assessment of questions of security policy as well as judgement on
Soviet policies. Attitude to Russians.

Topics: most important task of West German policies; personal
experiences or experiences of friends and acquaintances in the Soviet
Union; contacts with Russians in the Federal Republic; media
information about the Soviet Union; judgement on reporting in German
media about the Soviet Union and the USA; business trip to the USSR and
desire for a vacation trip; sympathy for Russians and Americans;
attitude to policies of the USSR and the USA; most important events
molding one´s own attitude to Americans and Russians; characterization
of most important characteristics of Russians; judgement on the
East-West relationship and the possibility of preserving peace in
Europe; comparison of the Federal Republic and the USSR regarding their
superiority in selected areas such as space research, agriculture,
security against unemployment, computer technology, protection against
crime, sports, fight against terrorism, air travel technology,
environmental protection, retirement insurance, culture, folk music,
protection against wrongful dismissal, national feelings, style of home
decor, serious music, health insurance, literature, pop music,
gastronomic culture and democratic freedoms; political interest;
assessment of political intents of the USSR and the USA regarding
securing of peace and influence on other countries and allies;
assessment of the military superiority of NATO or Warsaw Pact;
disarmament interest of the great powers; American or Soviet military
strength as guarantor of West German security; attitude to nuclear
deterrence; dependence of the Federal Republic on the United States and
of the GDR on the Soviet Union; attitude to membership in NATO, even
with use of nuclear weapons on German territory; limitation of a
nuclear war to Europe as American defense strategy; reliability of the
USA in case of defense; military superiority as goal of American and
Soviet defense policy; attitude to an American troop withdrawal from
Europe; attitude to a simultaneous withdrawal of Soviets from the GDR
and Americans from the Federal Republic; trust in the United States as
well as in the Soviet Union as world leading power; desirable areas of
German-Soviet cooperation (scale); attitude to the peace movement;
familiarity of ´Perestroika´ and ´Glasnost´; positive or negative
effects of Glasnost and Perestroika (scale); expectation of German
reunification in the next 20 years; opinion on Ronald Reagan and
Gorbachev; reading selected magazines; strength of interest in the
topics of this survey such as e.g. relations with the Soviet Union, the
USA, the GDR and on disarmament negotiations; sympathy scale for the
Federal Chancellor Kohl, Vogel, Pope Johannes Paul II., Thatcher,
Reagan, Gorbachev, Walesa, Mitterrand, Helmut Schmidt, Genscher,
Brandt, Adenauer, Brezhnev and Kennedy; union membership or membership
in a professional organization; behavior at the polls in the last
Federal Parliament election and party preference; party inclination.