Autumn Study 1977

Judgement on parties and politicians.

Topics: besides questions uniform at the federal level the
questionnaire also contains questions only posed in individual states:

1. Federal part: judgement on the economic situation in the Federal
Republic and assessment of economic development of personal household;
satisfaction with democracy in the Federal Republic; political
interest; most important political events in the last year and
judgement on them by the respondent; attitude to state, politicians and
political participation (scale); party preference (ballot procedure);
classification of parties and politicians as well as
self-classification on a left-right continuum; most important political
tasks in the Federal Republic and issue competence of the parties;
satisfaction with the job of the government coalition and opposition;
most important characteristics of a desirable society and degree of
realization in the Federal Republic; party inclination; issue position
of the candidates for chancellor as well as of the parties; assessment
of personal importance of these issues; personal election participation
at the last Federal Parliament election; general agreement of one´s own
political opinions with the top politicians of the parties as well as
the parties themselves (scale); assessment of the fairness of the
courts in the Federal Republic; effort of the parties for selected
social groups; underprivileged groups; institutions that should be
first to make an effort for these underprivileged; importance of issues
and issue positions of the parties; attitude to tax party; attitude to
nuclear power plants in general and to construction of further nuclear
power plants; assumed position of the SPD, CDU/CSU and the FDP on
construction of further nuclear power plants (scale); assessment of the
influence of personalities, associations and groupings on SPD as well
as CDU; attitude to guest workers and making jobs available for German
workers; perceived possibility to combat crimes of violence and
terrorism.

Demography: date of birth; sex; marital status; religious
denomination; frequency of church attendance; school education;
occupational position; current and earlier employment; net household
income; number of persons contributing to household income; respondent
is head of household; characteristics of head of household; number of
persons eligible to vote in household; number of children and young
people in household; residential status; number of floors and number of
residences in building; party inclination of spouse; self-assessment of
social class; estimated improvement in personal situation; local
residency; city size; state; regional origins; moving frequency; union
membership; possession of a telephone.

2. State part: in the 4 states with supplemental sample and in Hamburg
the following questions were posed as well: sympathy scale for the
regional parties and top politicians; party preference at state level;
most important tasks in the state and issue competence of state
parties; satisfaction with state government and opposition;
significance of party membership for occupational advancement in the
state.

Interviewer rating: interest of respondent in interview; number of
contact attempts; length of interview; date of interview.