Effects of demographic changes on political attitudes and political behavior in Germany

Political attitudes and behaviors with regard to demographic change.

Topics: Assessment of the national economic situation (retrospective, current, prospective); concern regarding demographic change; anticipated problems caused by an aging society; perceived age limit of older and younger people; knowledge test: Proportion of the country´s population over 65; perception of commonalities in own age group; perceived frequency of media reports on generational conflicts; political interest; assessment of one´s own economic situation (retrospective, current, prospective); voter turnout (Sunday question); party preference (voters and non-voters); perceptions of social conflicts between selected social groups (people with and without children, politically left and right, young and old, poor and rich, employed and retired, Germans and foreigners, East Germans and West Germans); most important political goals (post-materialism, Inglehart indicators); opinion on selected statements about old and young (frequent abuse of social benefits in Germany, assessment of representation of younger people´s interests in politics, assessment of representation of older people in political positions, older people should organize their own party, older people should support younger people and younger people should support older people); perceived strength of general intergenerational support; financial support of a family member of another generation resp. frequency of self-received financial support (intergenerational transfers); frequency of support from a person in everyday life who belongs to another generation or frequency of self-received support; satisfaction with democracy; political trust (Bundestag, politicians, Federal Constitutional Court, federal government, media); opinion on selected statements about young and old (importance of contact with significantly younger persons, evaluation of the representation of the interests of older persons in politics, older persons live at the expense of the following generations, older persons have built up what the younger persons live on today, importance of contact with significantly older persons, evaluation of the representation of younger persons in political positions; political efficacy; electoral norm (voter turnout as a civic duty); sympathy scalometer of political parties (CDU/CSU, SPD, FDP, Greens, Die Linke); satisfaction with selected policy areas (reduction of unemployment, health, education, financial security for the elderly, family, care in old age); preferred level of government spending in the aforementioned areas; preferred government responsibility in the aforementioned areas; most competent party to solve the problems in the aforementioned areas (problem-solving competence); salience of the aforementioned policy areas; self-ranking on a left-right continuum; assessment of the representation of older people´s interests by political parties (CDU/CSU, SPD, FDP, Greens, Die Linke); assessment of the representation of younger people´s interests by political parties (CDU/CSU, SPD, FDP, Greens, Die Linke); recall Bundestag elections 2013 (voter turnout, voting decision); expected occurrence of various future scenarios (conflicts between older and younger people, refusal of younger people to pay for the pensions of older people, older people more likely to assert their political interests than younger people, increasing old-age poverty, refusal of younger people to pay for the medical care of older people, Germany will no longer be able to afford current pension levels, Elderly will no longer receive all available medical benefits); reliance most likely on state, family or self for own retirement; knowledge test: Year of phased introduction of retirement at 67; civic engagement; hours per week of volunteering; perception of social justice; general life satisfaction; party affiliation and strength of party identification; concerns regarding own retirement security (financial/medical) or feared unemployment; religious affiliation; religiosity; salience of selected life domains (family and friends, health, leisure, politics, income, education, work, and occupation); self-assessment of class affiliation; residence description.

Demography: age (grouped) and year of birth; sex; household size; number of persons under 18 in household; household composition (one, two, or three generations); number of children and grandchildren; regrets about own childlessness; partnership; living with partner; married to partner; German citizenship; German citizenship since birth or year of acquiring German citizenship; country of birth (in the old federal states (West Germany, in the new federal states (East Germany or former GDR) or abroad); highest school degree; university degree; current and former employment; current and former occupation.

Additionally coded were: Federal state; area; region West East; weighting factors; interview date.