Politbarometer 1996 (Cumulated Data Set)

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>Cumulated data set of the Politbarometers for 1996. Attitude to current
political questions. Judgement on parties and politicians. Topics: the
following topics were surveyed with identical questions in every survey
period: most important political problems in the Federal Republic;
party preference (Sunday question, rank order procedure); party
inclination and party identification; behavior at the polls in the last
Federal Parliament election; sympathy scale for parties and selected
politicians; preference for federal chancellor; self-assessment on a
left-right continuum; personal jeopardy to job; jeopardy to job of
close persons; union membership; religiousness; survey date. The
following additional questions were posed in at least one or several
survey months: attitude to a one-party government of CDU/CSU after the
next Federal Parliament election; coalition preference; attitude to a
grand coalition and the statement of willingness to form a coalition of
the SPD before the next Federal Parliament election; most important
politician in Germany; personal change in party voted for; preferred
SPD candidate for chancellor; attitude to Kohl as candidate for
chancellor in the next Federal Parliament election; judgement on Kohl
as chancellor in previous government; assessment of support of Kohl and
Lafontaine by their respective parties; assessment of the left-right
development of the SPD unter Lafontaine; preferred development of the
SPD to the left or to the right; general judgement on the leadership of
the SPD party; judgement on coalition loyalty of CSU, CDU as well as
FDP; FDP as party unnecessary in Germany; characterization of parties
in the Federal Parliament as progressive, democratic, social, liberal
and modern; satisfaction with democracy in the Federal Republic;
interest in politics; the right people in leading positions;
characterization of the condition of society in the Federal Republic
and comparison with Western European neighbors; judgement on the
general economic situation in the Federal Republic and expected change
for the future; personal economic situation and expected change for the
next year; most able government to solve the economic problems in
Germany; expected economic situation; most able government and
preferred alternatives to create new jobs; expected solvability of
unemployment in Germany; attitude to reduction of continued payment of
wages {during absence}; attitude to vacation reduction in case of
illness; attitude to sick pay reduction; attitude to a strike to
achieve full continued payment of wages in cases of illness; sick pay
with withdrawal of supplements; attitude to employment of the
unemployed below standard rate; preference for increase in health
insurance fees or reductions in the public health system; attitude to a
strike to achieve wage demands; strike entitlement in civil service;
judgement on wage negotiations in business; preference for nation-wide
wage agreement or negotiation on company level; judgement on wage
contract in the civil service; attitude to reduction in wages to
support company; judgement on the ´Alliance for Jobs´, in which a
limitation on wages should lead to creation of additional jobs; leisure
time compensation instead of payment for overtime; expected creation of
jobs through such leisure time compensation; attitude to wage freeze in
the civil service to consolidate government finances; assessment of the
extent of social services and assumed extent of abuse; attitude to
elimination of earnings-related unemployment benefit for persons doing
illicit work; judgement on the savings program in the social area;
assumed jeopardy to the social security through these reductions;
assessment of the balance of the savings program; necessity of
additional economy measures; preference for tax increases or additional
borrowing; attitude to privatization of garbage collection and public
tasks in general as well as on reduction in expenditures; ability of an
SPD-led or a CDU/CSU-led Federal Government to solve finance problems;
attitude to a salary increase for civil servants; approval of a
reduction in civil service positions; attitude to participation of
civil servants in {contributions to} their retirement program; attitude
to introduction of a requirement for insurance for minor wages;
attitude to elimination of the early retirement regulation; attitude to
increase of compulsory retirement age for men and for women to 65
years; attitude to an increase in pension fund contributions or
increase in private provision for old age; attitude to deferral of
increase in child allowance in the framework of the economy measures;
judgement on the SPD position on this question; attitude to a sales tax
increase for the sake of reduction of wage and income tax; sales tax
increase versus introduction of an energy tax; judgement on a tax
reform to reduce tax write-offs and opportunities for deductions;
attitude to reduction of the highest tax rate to 35% as well as the
beginning tax rate to 20%; attitude to taxation of supplements for
night and Sunday work; attitude to taxation of earnings on real estate
and stocks; attitude to elimination of the wealth tax and continual
discussion about the new regulation of wealth tax; attitude to
reduction in funds for job creation measures in Eastern Germany;
preference for a professional army or one based on compulsory military
service; judgement on the draft bill regarding insulting a soldier;
attitude to participation of the Federal German Armed Forces in the
mission of the peace troops in Bosnia; attitude to use of fighting
forces of the Federal German Armed Forces in other countries; attitude
to return of refugees from former Yugoslavia; judgement on the influx
of ethnic Germans from Eastern Europe; perceived threat from crime;
attitude to bugging private areas to combat organized crime; attitude
to reducing sentences for robbery; advantageousness of membership of
the country in the EU; attitude to introduction of a common European
currency (ECU); judgement on the stability of the future European
currency in comparison with the DM; expectation of advantages or
disadvantage from introduction of the ECU for the country in general
and for the respondent in particular; preference for departmental
responsibility at national or EU level in foreign or security policy,
the fight against unemployment, monetary policy, economic policy as
well as social policy; judgement on the new telephone rates; preferred
date for elimination of the solidarity surcharge; attitude to reduction
in the solidarity surcharge; judgement on the current status of
unification of the two German states; expected time interval to achieve
equivalent standard of living in Eastern and Western Germany; adequate
effort of the Federal Government to achieve equivalent living
conditions in East and West; attitude to an annual commemoration day
for the victims of National Socialism; judgement on the work of the
Federal Government; SPD government as better alternative; attitude to
early elections for Federal Parliament; assessment of the PDS as
continuation of the SED; attitude to cooperation of other parties with
the PDS; attitude to government participation by the PDS; attitude to
nuclear power; attitude to shut-down of existing nuclear power plants;
judgement on the health consequences of Chernobyl; judgement on the
move to Berlin by the government; attitude to change of store closing
times; attitude to making the law on abortion stricter in Bavaria;
preferred Russian president; retrospect on 1996 and prospects for the
coming year. Also encoded was: administrative district.