Election Study 1990 (Trend Investigation)

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>Most important problems in the Federal Republic; satisfaction
with democracy; party preference (Sunday question and rank order
procedure); party inclination and party identification; behavior at the
polls in the last Federal Parliament election; time of voting decision;
self-assessment on a left-right continuum; preference for one-party
government or coalition preference; most important politicians;
sympathy scale for the parties and top politicians; satisfaction with
the achievement of the Federal Government and the achievements of the
opposition parties; preference for federal chancellor; preferred top
candidate of the SPD; satisfaction with the election result; expected
chances for and point in time of a reunification; attitude to
unification of the two German nations and judgement on unification
progress; attitude to a public opinion poll in connection with
unification; attitude to the visit by Modrow in the Federal Republic;
attitude to economic aid for the GDR dependent on reforms; perceived
intervention of FRG politicians in GDR reforms; understanding for
emigrants from the GDR; expected disadvantages in jobs and housing
through emigrants; residential status; judgement on privileges for
emigrants and the speed of reform in the GDR; expected advantages and
disadvantages for the West German population through unification;
judgement on point in time and exchange rate of the DM {German Mark} at
introduction in the GDR; approval of financial aid for the GDR even
with tax increases in the FRG; support for the unification policies of
Kohl or Lafontaine; preference for capital city and preferred seat of
government and Federal Parliament; attitude to the Oder-Neisse border
and to the GDR´s becoming a part of the FRG through the article in the
constitution; assessment of the worth of improving the constitution and
of the need for a new constitution in a united Germany; job worries;
judgement on democracy in the Federal Republic and attitude to
socialism; attitude to a candidacy of the PDS for the Federal
Parliament and electibility of the PDS; attitude to the date for the
first all-German election on 2 December and preference for a
postponement of the election date; self-assessment of extent to which
informed about the unification contract; issue relevance and issue
competence of the parties; preference for Lafontaine or Engholm as SPD
chairman; influence of opinion polls on one´s own voting decision and
interest in political surveys; most important election campaign topic;
attitude to the Americans´ sending troops to the Gulf region; attitude
to a military intervention in the Gulf region and to sending German
troops; personal retrospect on the last year and prospect for the
coming year; religiousness.