Politbarometer 2021 (Cumulated Data Set)

The Politbarometer has been conducted since 1977 on an almost monthly basis by the Research Group for Elections (Forschungsgruppe Wahlen) for 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 population in the Federal Republic on current political topics, parties, politicians, and voting behavior. From 1990 to 1995 and from 1999 onward, the Politbarometer surveys were conducted separately in the eastern and western federal 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. The Politbarometer short surveys, collected with varying frequency throughout the year, are integrated into the annual cumulation starting from 2003.<br>The following topics are included in the total data set as a whole. In some cases they were asked at every survey time, but in others only at one or more survey times.

Most important political issues in Germany; intention to vote in the next Federal Parliament election and party preference (Sunday question, first vote, second vote); voting at the polling station or by absentee ballot; certainty of voting; imagining voting for the following parties: CDU/CSU, SPD, AfD, FDP, the Left Party, the Greens, and the Free Voters; interest in the Federal Parliament election; voting behavior in the last Federal Parliament election; other voting decision in the 2021 Federal Parliament election with prior knowledge of the election outcome; satisfaction with the election result of the Federal Parliament election, coalition preference; assessment of a grand coalition of CDU/CSU and SPD led by the CDU or a grand coalition led by the SPD; assessment of a coalition of CDU/CSU and Greens led by the CDU or led by the Greens; assessment of a coalition of Greens, SPD and Die Linke, of SPD, Greens and Die Linke, of Greens, SPD and FDP, of SPD, Greens and FDP, of CDU/CSU and AfD, of CDU/CSU, Greens and FDP, and of CDU/CSU, SPD and FDP; preference for a federal government led by the CDU/CSU or a federal government led by the Greens; Federal government consisting of SPD, Greens and FDP could make an important contribution to solving Germany´s problems; expected good cooperation of the new federal government consisting of CDU/CSU, Greens and FDP; sympathy scalometer for the parties CDU, CSU, SPD, AfD, FDP, Die Linke and Greens; satisfaction scalometer for the federal government consisting of CDU/CSU and SPD and for the respective governing parties; ranking of parties most liked; most important politicians in Germany; likability scalometer for selected top politicians (Peter Altmaier, Annalena Baerbock, Robert Habeck, Lars Klingbeil, Winfried Kretschmann, Armin Laschet, Karl Lauterbach, Christian Lindner, Heiko Maas, Angela Merkel, Friedrich Merz, Olaf Scholz, Manuela Schwesig, Horst Seehofer, Markus Söder, Jens Spahn, Frank-Walter Steinmeier and Sarah Wagenknecht); interest in politics; opinion on the future traditional-conservative political course of the CDU; stronger traditional-conservative orientation more helpful or more harmful for the CDU; opinion on the new ministers: Expectation of good work from Chancellor Scholz, from Health Minister Karl Lauterbach, from Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock and from Finance Minister Christian Lindner; assessment of the current economic situation in the country; most suitable party to solve the economic problems in the country; assessment of the current personal economic situation and expected economic situation in the coming year; expected upward trend in Germany (economic expectations); most competent party to create jobs, in the areas of corona policy, social policy, social justice, securing pensions, climate protection and refugee and asylum policy; assessment of the AfD as a danger to democracy; advocacy of observation of the entire AfD by the Office for the Protection of the Constitution; confidence in the Greens´ ability to govern; winner of the 2021 Federal Parliament election already determined; expected winner of the 2021 Federal Parliament election; 2021 Federal Parliament election is particularly important compared to the last Federal Parliament elections; more important which parties will together form the government after the Federal Parliament election or who will become Chancellor; willingness of SPD to form government with Greens and Left; attitude towards a government consisting of SPD, Greens and Left; SPD should rule out forming a government with participation of the Left before the Federal Parliament election vs. should not commit; preferred coalition partners of SPD after the Federal Parliament election and presumed desired coalition of SPD (government with Greens and Left or government with Greens and FDP); preferred coalition partners of FDP after the Federal Parliament election and presumed desired coalition of FDP (government with CDU/CSU and Greens or government with SPD and Greens); preferred coalition partners of the Greens after the federal election and presumed desired coalition of the Greens (government with CDU/CSU and the FDP, with the SPD and the FDP, or with the SPD and the Left); preference for a government of SPD, Greens and FDP or of CDU/CSU, Greens and FDP; expected government; expected traffic light coalition of SPD, Greens and FDP; importance of the issues of climate protection, corona policy, asylum policy and social justice for own election decision; expected good cooperation of SPD, Greens and FDP in coalition negotiations; expected enforcement of the respective goals of SPD, Greens and FDP in coalition negotiations; expected agreement by SPD, Greens and FDP on coalition agreement before Christmas; goals of traffic light coalition fundable without further debt; rising energy prices a personal problem; support for government subsidy for low-income citizens because of high energy prices; European Union: Rather advantages vs. disadvantages for the German population due to EU membership; desire for closer cooperation of EU member states vs. more autonomy; rule of law as a prerequisite for EU funds; attitude towards additional national debt in view of current political and economic tasks; attitude towards higher taxation of high incomes; satisfaction with the work of Chancellor Angela Merkel; satisfaction with the work of the German government; expected rising numbers of refugees in Germany; Germany can cope with more refugees; problems of reunification now largely resolved; reunification was the right thing to do; preponderance of differences or commonalities between eastern and western Germany; assessment of social justice in Germany; assessment of cohesion in society; assessment of the suitability of Armin Laschet, Friedrich Merz, Norbert Röttgen, Jens Spahn, Markus Söder, Olaf Scholz, Robert Habeck and of Annalena Baerbock as chancellor; expected CDU candidate for chancellor (Armin Laschet or Markus Söder); most suitable candidate for CDU party chair (Armin Laschet, Friedrich Merz or Norbert Röttgen); Armin Laschet as CDU/CSU candidate for chancellor rather helpful vs. rather unhelpful for CDU/CSU´s performance in the Federal Parliament election; better result in the Federal Parliament election with Armin Laschet or with Markus Söder as candidate for chancellor; CDU leadership candidate Armin Laschet or political content of CDU/CSU as reason for CDU/CSU´s poor result in the Federal Parliament election; CDU/CSU should seek government with Greens and SPD vs. go into opposition; expected prolonged weakness of CDU/CSU; Armin Laschet should resign as CDU party chairman; politician who can successfully lead CDU into the future as party chairman; other politician named as party chairman; chancellor candidate for a better election result for the Greens (Annalena Baerbock or Robert Habeck); Saskia Esken and Lars Klingbeil will successfully lead the SPD into the future as party leaders; difference in who governs in the federal government; Chancellor preference for Armin Laschet or Annalena Baerbock, for Armin Laschet or Olaf Scholz, or for Olaf Scholz or Annalena Baerbock; chancellor preference for Armin Laschet, Olaf Scholz or Annalena Baerbock; expected fulfillment of election promises; comparison of chancellor candidates Armin Laschet, Olaf Scholz and Annalena Baerbock in terms of credibility, likeability, expertise and problem-solving skills; TV triell of the chancellor candidates seen; knowledge of the three candidates´ performance in the TV triell; candidate who did best in this TV triell; interest in opinion polls on the Federal Parliament election; influence of opinion polls on own voting decision in the Federal Parliament election; opinion of Olaf Scholz as German Chancellor; assessment of relations between Germany and the U.S.; expected reduction of social conflicts in the U.S. with the new U.S. President Joe Biden; expected future strong influence of Donald Trump on politics and society in the U.S.; opinion of a tightening of the EU´s economic punitive measures against Russia because of the increasing suppression of the opposition; greater blame for military conflicts in the Middle East: Israel or Palestinian Hamas; EU should work to resolve Middle East conflict or stand down; Afghanistan: has Germany done enough to rescue local forces after Taliban takeover; will Germany still be able to bring local forces out in larger numbers; expected higher number of Afghan refugees to Germany due to developments in Afghanistan; military action by West against Taliban in Afghanistan fundamentally correct; understanding of train drivers´ strike; sense of threat from crime; climate change as problem in Germany; evaluation of the commitment of various actors in Germany to climate protection (politics, companies, citizens); expected effective fight against climate change; flood disaster in parts of Germany as a result of climate change; forest fires in various Mediterranean countries as a result of climate change; enough government aid for the victims of the flood disaster; assessment of the commitment to disaster control in Germany; much achieved at the United Nations World Climate Conference; extent of the commitment of Western industrialized countries (G7) against Corona; opinion on the legalization of cannabis; extent of hostility toward Jews in Germany; fair share of living standards; Corona pandemic: Own health risk from Corona virus; Impact of Corona crisis on own financial situation; sufficient measures in Germany to protect against the spread of Corona virus; assessment of the adequacy of financial Corona aid from the German government; estimated frequency of violations of applicable Corona rules; emergency brake should be strictly implemented everywhere; extension of Corona measures until mid-April is correct; reasonable behavior of people in Corona crisis; support for relaxations in Corona measures in general and when infection numbers are significantly higher; preferred range for relaxations; expected third wave due to mutations in Corona virus; expected helpful effect of more Corona rapid tests on Corona crisis; vaccination refusers should pay for Corona rapid tests themselves in future; current relaxations in Corona measures are just right, go too far or do not go far enough; opinion on various Corona measures (closing stores, restaurants, cultural and recreational facilities, and schools, meeting only one other person from another household, 15 km movement radius in regions with particularly high infection rates); federal soccer league only for vaccinated and recovered persons; greatest perceived restriction by Corona measures; desired responsibility for basic rules for Corona control: federal vs. states; assessment of federal and state work on Corona crisis; assessment of federal government work on Corona crisis; assessment of federal state work on Corona crisis; extent of personal perceived burden of Corona crisis; advocacy of nighttime curfews for all cities and counties with seven-day incidence greater than 100; Advocacy for school closures in all cities and counties with a seven-day incidence of more than 200; Germany will come through the pandemic well; Christmas markets in Germany should generally be canceled this winter; opinion on border closures between European Union countries to contain the Corona virus; assessment of the EU´s work on the Corona crisis; assessment of the vaccination campaign against the Corona virus in Germany; vaccination status: Vaccinated against Corona virus; vaccination readiness against Corona; expected vaccination of all willing vaccinees in Germany by end of summer; expected normal life as of end of summer; opinion on maintaining or removing vaccination prioritization; opinion on removing testing requirement for vaccinated; opinion on lifting further restrictions on vaccinated and recovered; opinion on financial incentives for vaccination; Federal government should use pressure to increase vaccination readiness; advocacy for mandatory vaccination for health care workers and school and day care workers; attitude towards a general vaccination requirement; expectation of many vaccinations during vaccination action week; expected similar burden on hospitals in a fourth wave as in previous waves; expected decrease in infection numbers due to current measures against the fourth wave; attitude towards a 2G rule applicable throughout Germany; attitude towards a 3G rule in the workplace; personally more cautious due to increasing corona case numbers; preference for regionally different measures depending on the respective corona situation vs. same measures across Germany; evaluation of the new Infection Protection Act; intended summer vacation destination; expected increase in infection numbers this winter; expected functioning of schools after opening after summer vacation; attitude towards opening schools; opinion on preferential vaccination of teachers; attitude towards mandatory masks when shopping; attitude towards mandatory masks in public transport; opinion on stronger controls for compliance with Corona protection measures; importance of gendered language in the media; attitude towards gendered language in the media when writing and speaking; expected performance of the German team in the European soccer championship; left-right self-ranking; ranking of the parties CDU, CSU, SPD, AfD, FDP, Die Linke, and Grüne on a left-right continuum; personal review of the past year 2021; outlook for the coming year 2022.

Demography: sex; age (categorised); school leaving certificate or desired school leaving certificate; completed studies or vocational training; occupation; own job at risk; occupational group; household size; number of persons in the household 18 years and older; trade union member in the household; denomination; frequency of church attendance; party affiliation and party identification.

Additionally coded: respondent ID; version; survey month; survey week; federal state; survey area; city size; sample frame (landline or mobile phone sample); weighting factors: representative weight, total weight.