Autumn Study 1985

Judgement on parties and politicians. Political attitudes.

Topics: confidence in the future; judgement on the economic situation
of the Federal Republic and assessment of further development in a
year; expected development of one´s own financial situation; interest
in politics; extent to which politically informed and media usage;
judgement on the reliability of media regarding their political
information; party inclination; attitude to the economic policy of the
Federal Government and to a further cost-cutting policy; perception of
a new poverty; social groups that will soonest be threatened by
poverty; personally belonging to such a group; personal change in party
voted for and behavior at the polls in the last Federal Parliament
election 1983; satisfaction with elected party; party preference
(ballot procedure, first and second votes); issue relevance; issue
competence of the parties; judgement on the achievements of the Federal
Government; expected increase in threat to the environment in the next
few years; most important goals for foreign policy and judgement on
foreign policy; jeopardy to world peace from the USA or Soviet Union;
assessment of the willingness of the Soviet Union to agree and attitude
to NATO; assumed position of the federal parties regarding NATO;
perceived development of trade union influence in the Federal Republic
and judgement on this development; satisfaction with trade union as
representatives of the interests of workers; judgement on the work of
the trade unions; expected development of unemployment; assessment of
extent of abuse of unemployment support and attitude to intensification
of controls; most important burdens of persons affected by
unemployment; preferred social system; national pride; satisfaction
with the re-building effort after the war; satisfaction with democracy;
significance of selected moral concepts in the Federal Republic; sense
of duty and achievement orientation (scale); personal opinion
leadership and political commitment; self-assessment and classification
of the parties on a left-right continuum; party sympathy (rank order
procedure); attitude to the Greens taking seats in parliaments; most
important leisure activity; local ties; assessment of the quality of
life in the state; religiousness and ties to church; employment in
civil service and service rank; union membership and union office;
solidarity with trade unions; club membership; self-assessment of
social class; possession of a telephone.

Interviewer rating: description of place of residence; interest of
respondent in the interview; number of contact attempts; length of
interview; date of interview.

The following questions were also posed in Lower Saxony: most
important political issues in the state and issue competence of the
parties; behavior at the polls in the last state parliament election
1982 and satisfaction with elected party; judgement on the work of the
parties in Lower Saxony; assessment of the chances of the FDP and of
the Greens to take seats in the state parliament; effort of the parties
for minorities.