Spring Study 1978

Judgement on parties and politicians.

Topics: besides questions uniform at the federal level the
questionnaire also contains questions only posed in individual states:

1. Federal part: judgement on the economic situation in the Federal
Republic and assessment of economic development of personal household;
most important political events in the last year; political interest;
political opinion allegiance and assumed party preference of personal
opinion leader; personal opinion leadership; attitude to state,
politicians and political participation (scale); party preference
(ballot procedure); certainty of one´s voting decision (percentage
number); general agreement of one´s own political opinion with selected
top politicians and parties (scale); satisfaction with the job of the
government coalition and opposition; most important political tasks in
the Federal Republic and issue competence of the parties; party
inclination; issue position of candidates for chancellor as well as
parties; assessment of personal importance of these issues;
classification of parties and politicians on a left-right continuum;
most important sources for political information; individual issue
evaluation; attitude to long-term retention of government
responsibility by one party; effort of the parties for selected social
groups; personal identification with these groups; effects of politics
on striving for happiness; satisfaction with democracy in the Federal
Republic; attitude to nation-wide expansion of the CSU; attitude to
unemployment and its psychological and economic consequences (scale);
most important tasks of the Germans in a future European Parliament.

2. State part: in the states of Schleswig-Holstein, Lower Saxony,
Hesse, Rhineland-Palatinate the following supplemental questions were
posed: general agreement of one´s own political opinion with top
politicians and parties in the state; party preference at state level;
satisfaction with state government and opposition.

In the state of North Rhine-Westphalia beyond the general federal part
only the question of party preference was posed at the state level.

3. Extended state parts: In Schleswig-Holstein beyond parts 1 and 2
the following questions were posed: satisfaction with school system and
education policies; behavior at the polls in the last municipal
election; particular advantages and disadvantages of the state of
Schleswig-Holstein; attitude to a Green List or an environment party;
the party that has done the most for environmental protection in the
state.

In Lower Saxony the following questions were also posed: attitude to
an environmental protection party in state parliament; judgement on the
election campaign of the individual parties; changes in sympathy for
parties and top politicians due to the election campaign.

In the state of Hesse the following questions were also posed:
preferred governing party or coalition; attitude to municipal
re-organization of political boundaries; assumed reasons for the losses
of the SPD at the last municipal election.

In the state of Rhineland-Palatinate the following questions were also
posed: good and bad fields of work of the state government; assumed
connections between occupational advancement and party membership;
satisfaction with life in Rhineland-Palatinate.

Demography: age; sex; marital status; number of children; religious
denomination; frequency of church attendance; school education;
occupational position; earlier and current employment; household
income; respondent is head of household; characteristics of head of
household; self-assessment of social class; union membership; presence
at home in the last three days between 6 PM and 8 PM; occupational
change of a household member in the foreseeable future; unemployment or
short time work; number of persons contributing to household income;
number of eligible voters in household.

Interviewer rating: interest of respondent in interview; number of
contact attempts; length of interview; weekday of interview; date of
interview; place of survey.