Germany Monitor ´24 - Main Survey

The Germany Monitor is an annual survey with the aim of empirically surveying the development of political and social moods and attitudes of the population nationwide. Each year, a new annual focus is set. A nationwide main survey and a regional in-depth survey are carried out. In the regional in-depth survey, only people in pre-selected districts are interviewed. These surveys are available in separate data sets.

The main survey of the Germany Monitor ´24 was conducted by the opinion research institute forsa on behalf of the Zentrum für Sozialforschung Halle e.V. (Halle Social Research Center). In the survey period 18.04.2024 - 24.05.2024, the German-speaking resident population aged 16 and over was surveyed in telephone interviews (CATI). The focus in 2024 was on “What kind of society do we want to live in?”. Central topics include social goals, the importance and perceived fulfillment of central civil liberties and ideas of a just or unjust society. Furthermore, established attitudinal concepts, including satisfaction with democracy, trust in institutions and populism, as well as socio-demographic characteristics are also surveyed in the current wave. Respondents were selected using a multi-stage random sample from an ADM selection frame including landline and mobile phone numbers (dual-frame sample) in a ratio of 70:30. 3,986 telephone interviews were conducted in total.<br>Opinion on general state responsibility for life risks such as illness or unemployment; solidarity with Germany as a whole, with East Germany, with West Germany; importance of civil liberties (freedom of religion, freedom of opinion, freedom of the press, freedom to demonstrate, freedom of property and the right to strike); assessment of the implementation of individual civil liberties; agreement with various statements on the restriction of civil liberties (religious symbols such as the headscarf or the cross should be banned in public buildings and schools, stricter regulation of social media such as Facebook, TikTok or Telegram threatens freedom of expression, freedom of the press must have its limits where people are insulted or slandered, freedom of assembly and demonstration must have its limits where people are hindered in their everyday lives, large private housing companies should be able to be nationalized, even if this affects freedom of ownership, the right to strike must have its limits where important areas of public transport infrastructure are affected, e.g. in the rail and aviation sectors); satisfaction with democracy in Germany according to the constitution; satisfaction with the functioning of democracy in Germany; attitude towards the idea of democracy; discrimination: Importance of reducing discrimination on various grounds (migration background, gender; age, poverty, religion or belief, political attitude or outlook, East German origin); assessment of current economic situation in Germany as a whole and in place of residence, as well as own economic situation; Extremism (In the national interest, a dictatorship is the better form of government under certain circumstances, What Germany needs now is a single strong party that embodies the national community as a whole, We should have a leader who rules Germany with a strong hand for the good of all, As in nature, the strongest should always prevail in society, Those who have always lived here should have more rights than those who moved here later); ideas of a just society (open answers recoded into categories, e.g. freedom and personal rights, equality and equal opportunities in general, social justice and support, etc.); split: ideas of an unjust society (open responses recoded into categories, e.g. social inequality and wealth distribution, pensions and poverty in old age, dysfunctional migration and integration, etc.); priority of climate protection vs. economic growth; priority of freedom vs. equality; priority of freedom vs. security; preferences with regard to more or less government spending on certain areas (targeted recruitment of qualified specialists and trainees from abroad, strengthening of structurally weak regions, subsidies for the establishment of large companies, improvement of roads, improvement of railroad infrastructure, improvement of educational infrastructure (schools, kindergartens, universities), strengthening of police and law enforcement, strengthening of the Bundeswehr); politicians strive for close contact with the population (responsiveness); party identification (general and party); political interest; populism (members of the German Bundestag should be exclusively committed to the will of the people, the people agree in principle on what needs to happen politically, politicians talk too much and do too little, an ordinary citizen would represent my interests better than a professional politician, what is called compromise in politics is in reality just a betrayal of principles, the people, and not the politicians, should make the important political decisions, politicians only care about the interests of the rich and powerful); place of socialization after reunification (only for persons between 16 and 34 years of age): West Germany, East Germany, abroad; place of socialization before reunification (only to persons aged 35 and over): former Federal Republic or West Berlin, East Germany (GDR) or East Berlin, abroad; forms of political participation (working in a political party, taking part in an unauthorized demonstration, collecting signatures, volunteering); trust in institutions (federal government, state government in the federal state, Federal Constitutional Court, political parties in general, party according to party identification, European Union, public broadcasting); political positioning (right-left); image of society: Characteristics of a good society (climate neutrality, social togetherness, equal opportunities, social justice, religious coexistence, Germany part of a united Europe, no political extremism, immigration as an opportunity, gender equality, competition and achievement are worthwhile); social trust (you can trust most people, most people don´t really care what happens to their fellow human beings, there is great cohesion in this society); status: fair share of the standard of living (deprivation); worries that social development will increasingly put them on the losing side of life (fear of losing status).

Demography: Sex; year of birth; age (categories); age (numerical); education: highest general school-leaving qualification; desired school-leaving qualification; employment; highest professional qualification; education: CASMIN-generated index; marital status; German nationality; born in the Federal Republic of Germany; household income (categories); net equivalent income; household size; number of children in the household; religious affiliation.

Additionally coded were: Respondent ID; survey mode; survey year; data set (base sample); questionnaire split (4-point vs. 5-point scale for questions on democracy); typology of democratic orientation; extremism (Attitudes with an affinity for dictatorship): Generated Index; Extremism (Attitudes with an affinity for dictatorship): Categories; Questionnaire split (just vs. unjust society); Populism: Generated index; Populism: Generated dummy variable (no populist attitudes vs. populist attitudes); Institutional trust: Generated index; Social trust: Generated index; Age by generation;

Context variables: Settlement structure district type; BIK regions; region (East/West Germany); ILTIS typology (prosperity); Thünen rurality index; town size classes; weighting factors; selection frame (landline, mobile); type of telephone connections in the household.