2024 Voter Survey

The 2024 Voter Survey was conducted by Ipsos Public Affairs on behalf of the Konrad Adenauer Foundation. During the survey period from November 4, 2024, to November 29, 2024, the population aged 18 and older eligible to vote in the federal election was surveyed via telephone interviews (CATI) on the following topics: life satisfaction, satisfaction with democracy, affinity with or aversion to political parties, party identification, lifestyles, political parties’ problem-solving competence, political issues, polarization, political attitudes, voting motives, voting behavior, descriptions of political parties, the “Sunday poll,” and likelihood of voting. Respondents were selected using a disproportionately stratified random sample drawn from an ADM selection frame that included both landline and mobile phone numbers (dual-frame sample). A total of 2,525 complete interviews were conducted, of which 1,662 were in western Germany and 863 in eastern Germany. Life satisfaction; satisfaction with democracy; associations (open-ended responses) with a selected term (prosperity, security, moderate, down-to-earth, cosmopolitan, sustainable, middle-class, future, social, attached to one’s homeland, peace, patriotic, pride in Germany, strength in the world); affiliation with/aversion to political parties; reasons for affiliation with a specific party (when I talk about the party, I usually say “we” rather than “they”; it stands for my values and core beliefs; it does a lot for people like me; my family has voted for it for generations; when things go badly for the party, I feel for them); lifestyle over the past three years (I maintain a high standard of living; I sometimes treat myself to a really expensive meal at a restaurant; too expensive to take expensive vacations abroad regularly; I’m generally very knowledgeable about art and culture; I enjoy reading challenging books; I keep myself thoroughly informed about politics and current events; I particularly enjoy my life when there’s always something going on; I’m constantly seeking new challenges and experiences; self-actualization is very important to me; there’s hardly anything better than being active in my home and household; security and stability are my top priorities in life; I hold fast to my family’s traditions and customs); party competencies: the most competent parties for solving current problems; the most important and second most important political problems in Germany (open-ended responses); the most competent party for solving these important problems; acceptance or rejection of various groups of people (AfD voters, Green Party voters, CDU voters, gay people, refugees, dog owners, Catholics, climate activists, vegans, SUV drivers, hunters, Muslims, Jews); attitudes toward political issues: lower taxes and fees, even if that means fewer social welfare benefits vs. more social welfare benefits, even if that means higher taxes and fees; migration opportunities for foreigners should be made easier vs. should be restricted; priority should be given to combating climate change, even if it harms economic growth vs. priority should be given to economic growth, even if it hinders efforts to combat climate change; key criteria for choosing a political party (convincing policy positions, convincing politicians, a sense of connection to the party, problem-solving ability, assertiveness, a united front, ruling out a coalition with the AfD); party preference; party identification; generally lean toward this party vs. currently prefer it; have never leaned toward any party vs. used to lean toward a party; participation in the last federal election in 2021; voting choice in the last federal election; voting choice in elections over the past five years; party description: party or parties associated with the following terms: stability, prosperity, reliability, security, good governance, centrist, contentious, down-to-earth, cosmopolitan, conservative, sustainable, middle-class, future, strong leadership, economy, social, rooted in one’s homeland, peace, patriotic, proud of Germany, and strength on the world stage; party preference for the next federal election (Sunday question); probability of voting for this party; alternative “Sunday question”; reasons for party preference (the party’s convincing policy positions, the party’s convincing politicians, a sense of connection to the party, the party’s ability to solve problems, assertiveness, or a united front). Demography: sex; age; highest general education degree; highest vocational education degree; current occupation; employment status; occupational position in current or most recent job; unemployment lasting longer than 6 months; religious denomination or faith community; personal migration background or parents’ migration background; assessment of household income; household size; number of eligible voters aged 18 and older in the household; type of telephone (landline/mobile phone); number of landline telephone numbers in the household; personal mobile phone use; number of mobile phone numbers through which the respondent can be personally reached by phone. The following were also coded: respondent ID; weighting factors; interview date; start and end times of the interview; interview length in minutes; federal state; town size (political classification and BIK municipal size class); West/East; selected term for Q03, separated by East/West; selected term for Q03.