2025 Federal Election Post-Election Survey

The study “2025 Federal Election Post-Election” was conducted by Ipsos Public Affairs on behalf of the Konrad Adenauer Foundation. During the survey period from February 25, 2025, to April 14, 2025, the population aged 18 and older eligible to vote in the federal election was surveyed via telephone interviews (CATI) on the following topics: life satisfaction, satisfaction with democracy, political interest, affinity with or aversion to political parties, party identification, lifestyles, political parties’ problem-solving competence, political issues, political attitudes, polarization, voting behavior, voting motives, “Sunday question,” and perception of the election campaign. The post-election survey consists of two samples: First, a stratified random sample was drawn from an ADM selection frame that included both landline and mobile phone numbers (dual-frame sample). Second, participants from the previous study ZA9158: Voter Survey 2024. A total of 4,001 complete interviews were conducted for the representative sample, of which 2,818 were in western Germany and 1,383 in eastern Germany. With the group of participants willing to be re-surveyed, 709 complete interviews were conducted, of which 444 were in western Germany and 265 in eastern Germany. Life satisfaction; satisfaction with democracy; associations (open-ended responses) with a selected term (prosperity, security, moderate, down-to-earth, cosmopolitan, sustainable, middle-class, future, social, attached to one’s homeland, peace, patriotic, pride in Germany, strength in the world); Interest in politics; affinity for/aversion to political parties; reasons for affinity toward a specific party (when I talk about the party, I usually say “we” rather than “they”; it represents my values and core beliefs; it does a lot for people like me; my family has voted for it for generations; when things go badly for the party, I feel for them); lifestyle over the past three years (I maintain a high standard of living; I sometimes treat myself to a really expensive meal at a restaurant—too expensive to take expensive vacations abroad regularly; I’m generally very knowledgeable about art and culture; I enjoy reading sophisticated books; I keep myself thoroughly informed about politics and current events; I particularly enjoy my life when there’s always something going on; I’m constantly seeking new challenges and experiences; self-actualization is very important to me; there’s hardly anything better than being active in my home and household; security and stability are my top priorities in life; I hold fast to my family’s traditions and customs); party Competencies: the most competent parties for solving current problems; the most important and second most important political problems in Germany (open-ended responses); the most competent party for solving these important problems; acceptance or rejection of various groups of people (AfD voters, Green Party voters, CDU voters, gay people, refugees, dog owners, Catholics, climate activists, vegans, SUV drivers, hunters, Muslims); attitudes toward political issues: lower taxes and fees, even if that means fewer social welfare benefits vs. more social welfare benefits, even if that means higher taxes and fees; opportunities for foreigners to move to Germany should be made easier vs. should be restricted; priority should be given to combating climate change, even if it harms economic growth vs. priority should be given to economic growth, even if it makes combating climate change more difficult; key criteria for choosing a political party (convincing policy positions, convincing politicians, a sense of connection to the party, problem-solving ability, assertiveness, a united front, ruling out a coalition with the AfD); party preference; party identification; generally lean toward this party vs. currently prefer it; have never leaned toward any party vs. used to lean toward a party; participation in the last federal election in 2021; participation in the most recent federal election in February 2025; voting decision in this federal election; factors influencing one’s own decision to vote for a party (policy positions, lead candidate, affinity, coalitions the party would likely form to form a government, ability to solve future problems, ability to govern effectively, gut feeling, exclusion of a coalition with the AfD); factors from the election campaign that influenced one’s own voting decision; voters’ decision-making process: The decision in this federal election was very difficult, difficult, easy, or very easy; non-voters’ decision-making process: The decision not to vote in this federal election was very difficult, difficult, easy, or very easy; alternative party in the 2025 federal election; voting decisions in elections over the past five years; party description: Party or parties associated with the following terms: stability, prosperity, reliability, security, consistency, good governance, centrist, contentious, down-to-earth, cosmopolitan, conservative, sustainable, middle-class, future, strong leadership, economy, social, rooted in one’s homeland, peace, patriotic, proud of Germany, and strength on the world stage; party preference (Sunday question); probability of voting for this party; alternative “Sunday question”; reasons for party preference (the party’s convincing policy positions, the party’s convincing politicians, a sense of connection to the party, the party’s ability to solve problems, assertiveness or a united front); campaign exposure as of February 23, 2025: which parties’ campaign advertising was noticed on posters, in newspapers or magazines, as direct mail in the mailbox, at street booths, through personal interaction with a representative, and on social media; social media use: social network on which campaign advertising from this party or these parties was seen; evaluation of the campaign (during the campaign, the differences between the parties became clear to me; during the campaign, I changed my voting decision; none of the parties really convinced me during the campaign). Demography: sex; age; highest level of general education attained; highest level of vocational education attained; current occupation; employment status; occupational position in current or most recent job; unemployment lasting longer than 6 months; religious denomination or faith community; personal migration background or parents’ migration background; assessment of household income; Household size; number of eligible voters aged 18 and older in the household; type of telephone (landline/mobile phone); number of landline telephone numbers in the household; personal mobile phone use; number of mobile phone numbers through which the respondent can be personally reached by phone. The following were also coded: respondent ID; serial number; representative sample/willing to be re-surveyed; matching result from merge; weighting factors; interview date; federal state; city size (BIK and political); West/East; selected term for Q03; selected term for Q03 separated by East/West.