German Election Study, August-September 1969

This study includes two waves of interviews conducted with separate national samples during the 1969 election campaign in the Federal Republic of Germany. The first wave reinterviewed a panel of respondents first surveyed in 1967, producing 1,006 valid cases for a reinterview rate of 55.6 percent. The second wave interviewed a new sample of respondents, producing 939 valid cases. Since both waves utilized identical questionnaires, they were combined into a single dataset and a filter variable (V4) was constructed to allow the identification of respondents from each wave. Questions probed a wide range of political attitudes and behaviors. A series of political questions dealing with topics such as revaluation, codetermination, electoral reform, domestic stability, and "Ostpolitik" assessed the opinions of the voting public. The respondents indicated their position on each issue, the salience of the issue, and finally the competence of the major parties in dealing with the most important issues. The survey also assessed the respondents' awareness and evaluations of major political figures in the Federal Republic, their partisan attachments, political interest, voting behaviors past and present, and their anticipated vote in the 1969 election. Another portion of the interview measured the respondents' sense of political efficacy as well as their opinions on government performance, their tolerance of dissent, their support of popular participation in government decision-making, and their opinions regarding open electoral competition between political parties and nonauthoritarianism. Demographic variables cover age, sex, marital status, religious preference, place of residence, and level of education. In addition to these basic variables, the personal data section provides extensive information on the respondents' occupations and social mobility.