Political Indicators (Panel 1974-1976)

Attitude to political participation and political questions.

Topics: General contentment with life; expected development of
contentment with life and assessment of satisfaction some years ago;
satisfaction with housing conditions and with income situation;
satisfaction with provision with doctors and hospitals; work
satisfaction; achievement orientation or good luck as reason for
success in life; fatalism; attitude to the welfare state,
nationalization, the free market economy and reform policies; most
important tasks of the Federal Republic and the Federal Government;
evaluation of the Federal Government; evaluation of a potential CDU
government and the CDU/CSU in general; trust in the government and in
the political representative; assessment of personal possibilities of
political influence; political interest and political participation
(scale); attitude to various forms of political protest against the
government, beginning with demonstrations for environmental protection
and extending to sympathy for the Baader-Meinhoff group; personal
readiness to participate in political protests; assumed percentage
distribution of attitudes of West Germans to the individual forms of
political protest; contact with authorities; contacts with the police
as well as with the courts and judgement on the treatment experienced
there; self-assessment on the left-right continuum; party preference
(ballot procedure and rank order procedure); behavior at the polls in
the Federal Parliament elections 1972 and 1976 (ballot procedure, first
vote and second vote); time of voting decision; attitude to DKP and NPD
(scales). In the second survey the same topics were addressed. In most
cases the same question formulation was also used.

Demography: memberships; interest in the work of the organization;
self-assessment of social class; religiousness; age; sex; marital
status; religious denomination; school education; vocational training;
occupation; employment; household income; size of household;
composition of household; head of household.

Interviewer rating: willingness of respondent to cooperate; length of
interview; reasons for lack of interview.