State Election in Rhineland-Palatinate 2021

The study on the 2021 state election in Rhineland-Palatinate was conducted by the Forschungsgruppe Wahlen. During the survey period 08.03.2021 to 12.03.2021, 1117 eligible voters in Rhineland-Palatinate were interviewed by telephone (CATI) on the following topics: Political opinion: Parties. Top candidates. Problems and competencies. Electoral decision in the context of candidate preference and party competence. The respondents were selected by a multi-stage random sample.<br>Most important political issues in Rhineland-Palatinate; intention to vote in the state election in Rhineland-Palatinate; preference for polling station or absentee ballot; party preference (first vote, second vote); certainty of one´s own voting decision; importance of federal politics for one´s own voting decision in the state election in Rhineland-Palatinate; interest in the state election; voting behavior in the last state election; coalition preference; attitude towards various coalition constellations: Government of SPD and Greens, of CDU and Greens, of SPD, Greens and FDP, of CDU, Greens and FDP, of SPD and CDU led by SPD, and of CDU and SPD led by CDU; sympathy scalometer for selected parties at federal and state level (SPD, CDU, Greens, AfD, FDP and Free Voters); Satisfaction scalometer on the performance of the state government consisting of the SPD, FDP and Greens, the SPD, FDP and Greens in the state government, the performance of the CDU and AfD in opposition in the state parliament, and the performance of the federal government consisting of the CDU/CSU and SPD; Sympathy scalometer for selected top politicians at the state level and for Angela Merkel; party sympathy; preference for Malu Dreyer or Christian Baldauf as Minister President; Split B: Comparison of credibility, likability and expertise of Malu Dreyer and Christian Baldauf (end of Split B); assessment of the current economic situation in Rhineland-Palatinate and the respondent´s own economic situation; party competencies: Split A: Most competent party to solve the economic problems in the state as well as in the areas of foreigner policy and transport policy in Rhineland-Palatinate (end of split A); split B: Most competent party in the areas of school and education policy and climate protection in Rhineland-Palatinate (end of split B); most competent party in the area of Corona; now more important: Strict Corona measures to reduce infection rates vs, far-reaching relaxations to strengthen the economy; future viability of the state and most competent party to solve future problems in Rhineland-Palatinate; assessment of the work of Minister President Malu Dreyer; assessment of the commitment of the state government in Rhineland-Palatinate to the energy transition; Split A: Satisfaction with progress in Rhineland-Palatinate on digitization and fast Internet (end of Split A); Preference for an SPD-led state government or a CDU-led state government; role of CDU leader in the federal government Armin Laschet with regard to the CDU´s performance in the state election in Rhineland-Palatinate; Split A: More important, which parties will form the government after the state elections or who will become Minister President (end of Split A); opinion on the spread of right-wing extremist ideas in the AfD; Corona: Satisfaction with Corona crisis management in Rhineland-Palatinate in general and in the area of schools and education; satisfaction with vaccination progress in Rhineland-Palatinate; assessment of current relaxations in Corona measures; assessment of recent decisions by the federal and state governments on regionally different relaxations or tightenings in Corona measures depending on the level of infection figures; preference in elections in general and in times of Corona for polling station, absentee voting or not voting; fair share of standard of living.

Demograpy: sex; age (classified); school-leaving qualification or targeted school-leaving qualification; university degree; employment; job security; occupational position; leading position; public service employment; household size; number of persons in household 18 years and older; union member in the household; religious denomination; church attendance; party affiliation; party identification; city size; voting eligibility.

Additionally coded were: ID; weighting factor.