Election Study 1994: Politbarometer East 1994 (Trend Investigations)

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>The following topics were surveyed again identically at every
time of survey: 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 the parties
and selected politicians; self-assessment on a left-right continuum;
perceived jeopardy to personal job as well as that of close persons;
union membership; religiousness; telephone in residence.

The following questions were posed in at least one or more survey
months: absentee ballot or voting in the polling station; certainty and
time of personal voting decision; attitude to a one-party government of
CDU/CSU or SPD; satisfaction with the result of the Federal Parliament
election; coalition preference; attitude to a statement of willingness
to form a coalition by the SPD; attitude to a red-green minority
government with toleration by the PDS; preference for one-party
government and party preferred for this; assessment of the chances of
the SPD with Schroeder as candidate as well as of the CDU without Kohl;
sympathy scale for the coalition, state government as well as for the
opposition; most important politicians in Germany; comparison of the
two top politicians Scharping and Kohl regarding credibility, energy,
sense of responsibility, social attitude, honesty, winner type,
representation of interests regarding other nations, strength of
leadership, better government team as well as ability in economic
questions; satisfaction with democracy in Germany; necessity of new
parties; the right people in leading positions; interest in politics;
judgement on the general condition of society and comparison with other
Western European countries; judgement on the voting decision of the
citizens of the GDR to introduce political order from the West;
attitude to socialism as an idea; perceived joy or concern from
unification of the two German nations; general judgement on unification
of Germany; fulfillment of personal expectations of unification;
judgement on the economic situation in Eastern Germany and one´s own
economic situation; assessment of further economic development;
expected recovery; judgement on the job of the trust-company; superior
ability of the government or opposition in solving economic problems in
the eastern part as well as in the western part of the country;
significance of governing party for one´s own economic situation;
credibility of the election promises of the parties regarding tax
reductions; ability of a Federal Government led by the CDU/CSU in
comparison to the SPD in questions of protection of jobs, security
policies, the fight against crime, environmental protection, the
housing market and solving the asylum problem; satisfaction with
achievement of equivalent living conditions in Eastern Germany as in
Western Germany; satisfaction with the job of the Federal Government
regarding achievement of equivalent standard of living in East and
West; expected time period for achievement of equivalent living
conditions in East and West and assessment of the extent of that
achieved up to now; preference for wage increase or job security;
expected retention of the high wage level in Germany with short working
hours and long vacation; judgement on this year´s wage negotiations
with wage increases around 2% as well as expected wage increases in the
following year; attitude to dual citizenship; preferred areas for
government economy measures; attitude to the ´large bugging operation´
to combat organized crime; attitude to nursing care insurance and
identification of the party that hindered a consensus; attitude to
elimination of a holiday to finance nursing care insurance; attitude to
general coming to terms with the STASI past in the GDR; comparison of
the time before the turning point with the current situation regarding
consideration for others, freedom, safety, the economic situation and
the general situation; satisfaction with the job of the government;
assessment of the SPD or a red-green coalition as better government;
significance of the decisions of the municipal council, state
parliament, Federal Parliament as well as the EC parliament; intent to
participate in the election and party preference for the European
Election; advantageousness of EC membership for the country; extent to
which adequately informed about the EC; interest in European policies;
attitude to increased significance of the European Parliament;
responsibility with the Federal Government or the European Union
regarding the fight against unemployment and crime as well as for
economic development and foreign and security policies; fear of crime;
preferred successor for Federal President Weizsaecker; judgement on the
testimony of Prime Minister Stolpe before the investigating committee
and demand for Stolpe´s resignation; desire to become self-employed;
perceived threat from Russia as well as from Zhirinovsky; attitude to
deployment of Federal German Armed Forces in blue-helmet missions;
attitude to participation by Germany in this peace initiative; attitude
to military UN missions given violation of the safety zones; attitude
to a time-limit on the solidarity tax; expected winner of the impending
Federal Parliament election; significance of the second vote; assumed
coalition preference of the SPD; credibility of the renewal of the PDS;
desirability and chances of the PDS, FDP and Greens for the Federal
Parliament; significance of the PDS as political power in the East;
feared cautiousness of investors from a PDS success; judgement on the
5% clause; attitude to the exception for direct mandates in the 5%
clause; expected chances of the CDU/CSU for a one-party government;
evaluation of the parties´ dealing with the PDS and coalition
preferences; perception of the FDP as appendage of the CDU/CSU;
attitude to a coalition of the Greens with the CDU; most important
tasks of the government; preference for fee financing of the ARD {First
German Television Network} and the ZDF {Second German Television
Network} or for financing through advertising income; attitude to
elimination of the church tax; attitude to controlled adminstering of
drugs under medical supervision; attitude to elimination of the child
allowance as of a certain income; attitude to longer business hours one
evening a week; preference for more market economy or more social
security; application for a telephone; expected date of installation;
duration of possession of a telephone; retrospect on the last year and
view on the future. Also encoded in every survey wave were: day of
survey and administrative district.