Dutch Parliamentary Election Study, 1994

This survey, the ninth in a series of election studies from the Netherlands, focuses on the May 3, 1994, elections for the Second Chamber of Parliament. This election occurred after the Lubbers-III Cabinet formed by the political parties CDA and Pvda had reached the end of its term. The survey was administered in two waves, one conducted before the election and one following the vote. In the first wave, respondents provided information on their interest in politics, what they considered the most important national problem, how they intended to vote in the upcoming election, political party membership and affiliation, attitudes toward government policies and officials, opinions on political and social issues such as crime, minorities, nuclear energy, and income differences, and a variety of personal and demographic characteristics. Many first-wave items were repeated in the second wave. During the second wave, respondents also reported the name of the party they had voted for in the election and their reasons for doing so. Other variables recorded voter perceptions of the stance of various political parties on issues such as crime, unemployment, pollution, and economic concerns, voter knowledge of national politicians, rating of political parties based on a 10-point left-right scale, attitudes toward politics and the effectiveness of government, union membership, and opinions on European unification. Respondents were also asked to describe how they would participate in the governing process if they thought that the Second Chamber of Parliament was about to consider a bill that the voter thought unjust, and, in addition, to state which national goals should receive the highest priority.