German Internet Panel, Wave 73 - Core Study (September 2024)

The German Internet Panel (GIP) is a long-term study conducted at the University of Mannheim. The GIP examines individual attitudes and preferences that are relevant to political and economic decision-making processes. To this end, since 2012, over 3,500 people across Germany have been surveyed online every two months on a wide variety of topics. The GIP is based on a random sample of the general population in Germany aged 16 to 75. The study began in 2012 and was expanded with new participants in 2014 and 2018. Panel participants were recruited offline. The GIP questionnaires cover a wide range of topics related to current events. Instead of a single, continuous questionnaire, the survey is divided into several shorter sections on different topics. The modules were displayed either in random or fixed order. Participants can decide for themselves in which order they would like to answer the various topics and whether they want to complete them all in a row or take a break in between. Core Study on Democracy and Elections: Self-identification on the political spectrum; party membership; membership in a specific party; party affiliation (if the respondent is not a party member) and party identification; strength of party identification; percentage of acquaintances who also identify with this party; if the respondent does not identify with any party: percentage of acquaintances who also do not identify with any party; voting decision in the last federal election in 2021; satisfaction with the performance of the federal government; satisfaction with the functioning of democracy in Germany; sense of freedom of expression regarding current politics; agreement with the statement: Politicians treat people like me with respect; politicians care about what people like me think (efficacy); support for democracy (democracy is the best form of government despite some problems); overall assessment of the topic area; the respondent made additional comments on the topic area. Module 73 A: Federal Parliamentary Election Candidates: Conjoint experiment on voting decisions between two fictional federal parliamentary election candidates with different characteristics – Experimental factors: Age (38, 46, 54, 62, and 70 years), gender (female, male), occupation (lawyer, self-employed entrepreneur, teacher, tradesperson, no vocational qualification), party (CDU, SPD, Greens, AfD, Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance, FDP, independent), Position 1 (state social benefits should be expanded, state social benefits should neither be expanded nor restricted, state social benefits should be restricted), Position 2: (politicians should treat all citizens with respect, (blank), politicians must engage with citizens and better explain political decisions to them), Position 3 (the conditions for foreigners to move here should be made easier, the conditions for foreigners to move here should neither be restricted nor made easier, the conditions for foreigners to move here should be restricted), current situation (is being monitored by the Office for the Protection of the Constitution due to extreme statements on the topic of migration; is facing trial for extreme statements on the topic of migration; is being monitored by the Office for the Protection of the Constitution due to extreme statements on the topic of redistribution; is facing trial for extreme statements on the topic of redistribution; (blank). Dependent variables: how seriously does the candidate take the concerns of people in Germany; how extreme is the candidate; should the candidate even be allowed to run for political office; overall assessment of the topic area; the respondent made additional comments on the topic area. Module 73 B Migration Policy: Conjoint experiment on voting decisions between two fictional candidates in the Bundestag election with different political positions – Experimental factors: Immigration (open/restrictive immigration policy), integration (full rights/only limited rights for immigrants), citizenship (easier/more restrictive access to German citizenship), climate (more climate protection at the expense of economic growth/more economic growth at the expense of climate protection), social benefits (more social benefits and higher taxes/fewer social benefits and lower taxes), gender equality policy (expansion/reduction of gender equality policy and support for women), anti-discrimination (expansion/reduction of anti-discrimination policy), military spending (increase/reduction in military spending), Development aid (increase/reduction in development aid), freedom/security (more freedoms at the expense of security/more security at the expense of freedoms); Associations regarding people who immigrated to Germany in the past year (open-ended, coded responses: e.g., country of origin/region, people from Ukraine, people from Africa, reasons for immigration, etc.); estimated percentage of people who immigrated to Germany in the past year to work here; estimated minimum percentage (likely lower limit) and estimated maximum percentage (likely upper limit) of those who immigrated to work here; estimated percentage of immigrants who arrived in the last year from an EU country; estimated minimum percentage (likely lower limit) and estimated maximum percentage (likely upper limit) of immigrants who come from an EU country; attitudes toward immigration: whether it is good or bad for the German economy that immigrants come here; whether cultural life in Germany is undermined or enriched by immigrants; general attitude toward immigration; assessment of current immigration laws in Germany (too lenient, too restrictive, or just right); assessment of current rights for immigrants in Germany (too generous, too restrictive, or just right); assessment of current immigration numbers to Germany (too high, too low, or just right); Willingness to engage in political participation to support one’s own position on migration policy (participating in political discussions in everyday life, donating money to a party or organization, active membership in a party or organization, sharing opinions on social media, participating in a demonstration, convincing someone of one’s own positions, taking on a role in a party or organization, contacting members of the Bundestag, wearing a pin, voting for parties that align with one’s own position on migration, none of the above); overall assessment of the topic area. Demography: sex; age (year of birth, categorized); highest level of school education; highest level of vocational education; marital status; household size; employment status; German citizenship; frequency of private internet use; federal state. The following were additionally coded: Respondent ID, GIP; household ID, GIP; individual ID (within the household); year of recruitment (2012, 2014, 2018); interview date; current online status; experimental variables. Questionnaire evaluation (interesting, varied, relevant, long, difficult, too personal); overall assessment of the survey; the respondent provided additional comments on the questionnaire.