Politbarometer West 2005 (Cumulated Data Set, incl. Flash)

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>1. The following topics were repeated identically at each
survey period: most important political problems in Germany; voting
intention at the next parliamentary elections (opinion poll,
ranking) ; party preference; voting behaviour at the last parliamentary
elections; coalition preference; sympathy-scale for SPD, CDU, CSU, FDP,
die Grünen and PDS; rank of the parties (split); sympathy-scale for
selected leading politicians (Joschka Fischer, Angela Merkel, Gerhard
Schröder, Edmund Stoiber, Guido Westerwelle and Christian Wulff);
judgement of the present economic situation in Germany; the most
competent party to resolve the present economic problems;
judgement of respondent`s economic situation in present and in future;
judgement of an upward trend in German economy (economic situation
expectation); the most competent party for the creation of jobs;
self-assessment on a left-right continuum.

2. At least in one or in additional months was asked: postal vote;
first and second vote; eligible parties and non eligible parties;
certainty of one`s own voting decision; judgement of the so called
grand coalition of CDU/CSU and SPD as well as different coalitions from
the parties in the Bundestag; attitude towards an one party government
of the CDU/CSU; attitude towards a SPD government with PDS as party for
obtaining the majority; voting for a different party, in case the
election results would have been known before; satisfaction with the
result of the parliamentary elections; attitude to a participation of
FDP and PDS in government; the most competent government coalition to
resolve the problems in Germany; accessibility of a majority of SPD and
die Grünen; preference for SPD in the government or in the opposition;
Federal Chancellor preference for Angela Merkel or Gerhard Schröder in
general as well as with one grand coalition; additionally preference
for a Federal Chancellor; clarification of the chancellor question or
the government programme in first place during the negotiations between
CDU/CSU and SPD; attitude towards a minority government; preferred
minority government; judgement of the election results with regard to
the approach to resolve the most important problems in Germany;
expectation of a grand coalition by CDU/CSU and SPD; perceived euphoric
mood in Germany after the formation of the new government; important
contribution of the grand coalition to resolve the problems in Germany,
in fighting of unemployment, in resolving the pension problem, the
finance problem, the problems in health service, in stimulating the
economy as well as supporting families; attitude towards an election of
Angela Merkel as a Federal Chancellor; preference for Gerhard Schröder
as a Federal Chancellor in a grand coalition; expected authority of
Angela Merkel in important political questions; judgement of the
competence of Angela Merkel in representing Germany abroad;
satisfaction with the new government team; expected support of Merkel
by the CDU/CSU parliamentary group as well as the SPD parliamentary
group in the Bundestag; expected continuance of the grand coalition
over the whole legislative period; attitude towards East Germans as
party leaders (of CDU and SPD); attitude towards a woman as chancellor;
woman as reason for the eligibility of the CDU/CSU; satisfaction with
the performances of the Federal Government as well as with the
individual parties SPD, die Grünen, CDU/CSU, FDP as well as the
Linkspartei.PDS (scale); currently most important politician or
politicians in Germany; sympathy scale for selected leading politicians
(in addition to those mentioned above: Wolfgang Clement, Hans Eichel,
Gregor Gysi, Roland Koch, Horst Köhler, Oskar Lafontaine, Friedrich
Merz, Franz Müntefering, Matthias Platzeck, Otto Schily, Ulla Schmidt,
Horst Seehofer, Peer Steinbrück and George W. Bush); disunity of SPD,
CDU, CSU, die Grünen, FDP and PDS as well as of CDU and CSU with each
other; judgement of the relations between the ruling parties SPD and
die Grünen and the relations of CDU to CSU; candidate for the
chancellorship of the CDU/CSU with the greatest chances of an electoral
victory at the next parliamentary elections; assessment of the most
suitable time for the decision of the candidate for chancellorship
question among the CDU/CSU; assessment of the support of Gerhard
Schröder by the SPD, of Angela Merkel by the CDU and CSU, of Edmund
Stoiber by the CSU and of Guido Westerwelle by the FDP; comparison of
Angela Merkel with Gerhard Schröder with regard to reliability, energy,
sympathy, authority, expertise and winner type as well as leadership in
government and at the solution of future problems in Germany ; Gerhard
Schröder or Angela Merkel as an expected beneficiary of the intended TV
duel; TV duel between Gerhard Schröder and Angela Merkel watched;
better performance of Schröder or Merkel at the TV duel; change of the
respondent`s attitude towards the candidates by the TV duel; the most
competent candidate for the chancellorship for the creation of new jobs;
Angela Merkel as a person representing the interests of the women and
the East Germans; expected election outcome for the CDU with as well as
without Merkel; chancellor preference; assignment of the qualities
´progressive´, ´credible´ and ´socially´ to the large parties;
satisfaction with democracy; strength of the interest in politics;
right people in the leading positions (general, in politics and in the
economy); expectation of the future economic situation in Germany;
condition of the society in Germany and in comparison with the Western
European neighbours; comparison between Germany and Western European
neighbouring states regarding the economic situation; Europe, USA or
China as the most successful economy region; the presumably strongest
economy region within 10 years: Europe, USA or China; perceived
conflicts between the poor and the rich, employers and employees, young
and old, foreigners and Germans, East Germans and West Germans, as well
as between men and women; expected and preferred direction of
development for the SPD (to the left or to the right); attitude towards
the intended resignation of Franz Müntefering from the SPD party
leadership; judgement of Matthias Platzeck as a successor for the SPD
party leadership as well as expected strengthening of the cohesion in
the SPD due to Matthias Platzeck; correctness and sufficiency of the
previous reforms; personal meaning of Hartz IV; judgement of the
unemployment benefit (ALG II) and the cuts for long-term unemployed;
attitude towards beginning work on lower wage level; assessment of the
success of the Hartz IV reforms in respect to creation of new jobs;
judgement of the carrying out of the introduction of Hartz IV; attitude
towards the standard wage as a minimum wage; attitude towards a
stronger taxation of high incomes as well as at a common tax rate of
25%; preferred measures of the state for the reduction of the budget
deficit: tax increases, reductions of expenditure or additional debts;
attitude towards the rise of the retirement age to 67 years; preference
for a rise of contributions to the health insurance or for the payment
of services on one`s own expense; attitude towards the suggested
contribution to the health insurance of non-working spouse; expected
reform readiness of the grand coalition; Federal Government, enterprise
or world economic situation being responsible for unemployment in
Germany; assessment of the share of enterprises which cut jobs despite
high profits; opinion on the SPD debate: greed for profit of the
enterprises leads to endangering the democracy; attitude towards the
counter-opinion of the CDU: SPD debate as a diversionary tactics of
unemployment issues; opinion about solving the unemployment problem
within the next years; assumed agreement between the government and the
CDU/CSU opposition for fighting of unemployment; sufficient measures of
the Federal Government in fighting unemployment and in comparison to an
assumed CDU/CSU`s commanded government as well as in comparison to a
grand coalition of SPD and CDU/CSU; expected effect of selected
measures on the fighting of unemployment (tax reduction for enterprise,
loosening of the dismissal protection, working time extension,
reduction in the contributions to the social insurance; expected
continuance of the government coalition until the next parliamentary
elections in 2006; assumed actual majority for Gerhard Schröder in the
Bundestag; expectation of a forward brought new election according to
the vote of confidence; judgement of a forward brought new election;
attitude towards a resignation of Gerhard Schröder; attitude towards a
change of the constitution for the self-dissolution of the Bundestag;
expectation of value-added tax increase, further cuts in the health
system, the abolition of subsidies for home buyers, cuts of the social
provision as well as keeping the environmental tax after an electoral
victory by the CDU/CSU or SPD; judgement of the solution expertise for
economic and social problem in case of the planned alliance of the
left-wing parties PDS and WASG; knowledge of the meaning of the second
vote; assumed effects of the value-added tax increase on the job
supply; differences or things in common between the east and the west
as well as the north and south of Germany; attitude towards East
Germans as citizens of second class; assumed lack of appreciation of
the performances of the West Germans assumed at the build-up of East
Germany; interest for East German problems; attitude towards the
take-over of a ministerial office by Edmund Stoiber; expected support
of Angela Merkel by Edmund Stoiber; effects of the critique concerning
Edmund Stoiber on the CDU/CSU at the parliamentary elections; attitude
towards the demission of Edmund Stoiber for a ministerial office;
consequence of this renunciation for Angela Merkel; awareness of the
VISA affair; personal fault of Joschka Fischer in the VISA affair;
attitude towards the demanded resignation of Joschka Fischer as
Secretary of State; standing of Joschka Fischer according to the
statement in front of the commission of inquiry concerning the VISA
affair; negative consequence of the VISA affair for die Grünen; most
competent party to save the pensions, for the fighting the crime, in
the ecological policy, fiscal policy, education policy, family policy,
health politics, foreign policy and foreigner politics, to the
adjustment of the living conditions of the east to the west as well as
for the solution of future problems of Germany; judgement of the most
suitable party programmes with regard to the reduction in unemployment,
social justice, honesty, family kindness as well as for the solution of
the problems in the areas of pension, health and care; satisfaction
with the compability of family and profession; party which most likely
supports the compability of family and profession; preferred politician
for the take-over of an important department in a grand coalition;
attitude towards new elections; interest in opinion polls; influence of
opinion polls on the respondent`s election decision; main
responsibility for the high prices of gasoline (the Federal Government,
major corporations or the hurricane in the USA); crime fear; preferred
measures of the state for boosting the economy: cut of home buyer
subsidies, abolition of the subsidies on the journey to work,
value-added tax increase; expected increase of value-added tax;
preferred use of value-added tax; attitude towards further cuts in the
social system; attitude towards a cut of the tax filing limit for
surcharges at night, Sundays and bank holidays as well as the coal
subsidies; assumed agreement of the population to further cuts in the
social system; expected stronger cuts in the social system under a
CDU/CSU or under a SPD commanded government; attitude towards a pension
increase; preference for a rise of the contributions from employees and
employers to the legal pension scheme or for additional fiscal
resources; assumed extent of the misuse of social security benefits;
attitude towards the reunification and a return to two states in
Germany; East German or West German as a main beneficiary of the
reunification; attitude towards a ban on the NPD; NPD as danger for the
democracy; attitude towards a legal restriction of the right of
demonstration at certain places; attitude towards the increase of
tuition fees at universities (tuition fees on the complete duration of
study or after exceeding the regular period of study, no tuition fees);
Federal Armed Forces have proved themselves; preferred Federal Armed
Forces of the future (draftees or professional soldiers); attitude
towards the application of DNA tests at less heavy criminal offenses;
eligibility of the new Links-Partei “work and social justice - the
election alternative”; eligibility of NPD/DVU; personal consequence of
the electoral victory of a certain party; profitability of the EU
membership; judgement of the progress of the European Union and
influence of the European Union in Germany; knowledge of a not
clarified future financing of the EU; main responsibility for a missing
agreement; assumed persistence of the EU crisis; preferred development
of the EU (restriction to economic cooperation or political agreement);
expected development of the German influence on the EU; expected
advantages or disadvantages by the EU expansion by East European
states; attitude towards the admission of Romania, Bulgaria and Turkey
to the European Union; EU expansion by Turkey as an advantage or
disadvantage for Germany; judgement of the introduction of the Euro in
Germany; expected long-term success of the Euro; expected compliance of
the Euro stability pact in the year 2007; most important partner of
Germany in the European Union; future cooperation of Germany with the
large or the small European states; USA or European Union more
important to Germany; judgement of the German relations to France,
Great Britain, Russia, Poland as well as the USA; desire for closer
cooperation between Germany and the USA; most important partner of
Germany: the USA or France; development of the relations between
Germany and the USA under Federal Chancellor Merkel; importance of the
discussion about the CIA flights with prisoners; expected military
operation of the USA against Iran in the near future; judgement of
Federal President Horst Köhler; assessment of the work of the Federal
Government; expected improvement of government work in the case of a
CDU/CSU government or SPD die Grünen government; certainty about the
winner of the parliamentary elections; expected election winner;
coalition composition or Federal Chancellor more important for the
government`s performance; respondent`s changing in electorate;
influence of the Linkspartei.PDS in the WASG; successes of the
Linkspartei.PDS by protest voters; eligibility of the left alliance
from PDS and WASG; party with the greatest loss of votes in the next
parliamentary elections in favour of the Linkspartei.PDS; preference
for changes of government; judgement of the performance of Federal
Chancellor Angela Merkel as well as the new Federal Government from
CDU/CSU and SPD; attitude towards a disclosure of the additional
incomes of the members of the Bundestag; attitude towards new
regulations on the paternity test without consent of the mother;
attitude towards the introduction of a car toll at a simultaneous
reduction of the mineral oil tax; sufficient measures of the Federal
Government for the German victims of the flood disaster in Asia;
assessment of the reconstruction aid in the amount of 500 m. Euros for
the countries affected by the tsunami; attitude towards supplies of
arms to China; attitude towards a loss of the license for diesel cars
and truck without soot filters and to subsidies for diesel vehicles
with soot filter; preference for religion or ´ethic and values´ as a
compulsory subject in schools; interest in the papal elections;
preferred country of origin of the new pope; Germans support the pope`s
social attitudes; amount of junk meat suspected in grocery stores;
personal feeling of health hazard by junk meat; willingness for the
payment of higher prices for high-quality meat; personal feeling of
health hazard by the bird flu; assessment of the measures against the
bird flu in Germany; fears of terrorist attacks in Germany; expectation
of a durable peace in Iraq; expectation of riots of foreign teenagers
in Germany like in France; interest in the soccer World Cup in 2006;
planned visit of a World Cup game; Germany as the expected soccer
world´s champion; rating the parties SPD, CDU, CSU, die Grünen, FDP and
the Linkspartei.PDS on a left-right continuum; review at the year 2005;
view at the year 2006.

Demography: sex; age (classified); marital status; living together
with a partner; children in the household; number of children under
13 years and age of these children; the highest school-leaving
qualification; polytechnic college studies accredited as a degree;
completed vocational training; occupation; assessment of respondent`s
job security; occupational group; size of household and number of
persons as of 18 years; respondent is householder; characteristics of
the householder; labour union member in the household; denomination;
frequency of church attendance; endangered job or unemployment in the
social environment; party affiliation and party identification; size of
place; Federal state of the right to vote.

Additionally coded was: month and week of survey; day of the
interview; Federal State; weighting factor.