Politbarometer West 1992 (Cumulated Data Set)

The Politbarometer has been conducted since 1977 on an almost monthly basis by the Forschungsgruppe Wahlen on behalf of the Second German Television (ZDF). Since 1990, this database has also been available for the new German states. The survey focuses on the opinions and attitudes of the voting-age population in the Federal Republic on current political issues, parties, politicians, and voting behavior. From 1990 to 1995 and from 1999 onward, the Politbarometer surveys were conducted separately both in the newly formed eastern and in the western German states (Politbarometer East and Politbarometer West). The separate monthly surveys of a year are integrated into a cumulative data set that includes all surveys of a year and all variables of the respective year. Starting in 2003, the Politbarometer short surveys, collected with varying frequency throughout the year, are integrated into the annual cumulation.<br>General judgement on the correctness of unification of the two German
nations; national pride; judgement on the stability of the German Mark
and ability of the government or opposition in this question; attitude
to tax increases and assessment of the necessity of tax increases to
finance German unity; expected tax increase in the current year;
attitude to increase in government debt to finance re-unification;
preference for economizing or tax increase; attitude to reintroduction
of the solidarity tax.

Most competent party in policies on asylum; judgement on the German
asylum law; assessment of abuse of the right to asylum; attitude to an
ammendment to the Constitution and acceleration of asylum hearings;
attitude to housing applicants for asylum in communal housing;
judgement on the allocation of applicants for political asylum to the
new states; ability to cope with the current crush of applicants for
asylum; attitude to guarantee of the right to take legal action for
applicants for political asylum; expected chances for Engholm´s
proposal on the right of asylum; attitude to immediate deportation of
applicants for political asylum from countries without political
persecution; expected effectiveness of change in the right to asylum
after the compromise between government and opposition; understanding
for violence against applicants for political asylum; regret for the
acts of violence; assessment of the violent criminals as hooligans or
right-wing radicals; necessity of stricter laws against right-wing
extremism; assessment of the voters for Republicans as protest voters;
right-wing radicalism as a problem.

Judgement on the union wage demands; attitude to strikes to push wage
demands through; judgement on wages in the civil service; attitude to
acceptance of wage settlements in other economic areas; attitude to
preference for the lower salary groups; personal impact from the OETV
{civil service transport traffic} strike; justified wage differentials
between East and West; attitude to wage increases sufficient to
compensate inflation; attitude to sacrifice of wages due to bad
financial situation of the company.

Preference for remaining an independent state or as part of a European
merger; advantages or disadvantages from EC membership and domestic
market; attitude to rejection of the Maastricht Treaty by the Danes;
approval of the Maastricht Treaty; attitude to a plebiscite on the
Maastricht Treaty; attitude to a partial union of EC countries and
preferred countries for such a merger; attitude to a European currency;
preference for the German Mark as common European currency; assessment
of the stability of a European currency; support for the demand for
introduction of the German language as a further official language;
attitude to an expansion of the EC by countries from the East as well
as Austria, Switzerland and Turkey.

Attitude to acceptance of responsibility of united Germany in solving
world conflicts; judgement on the influence of the states on federal
policy; retention of the states in case of a united Europe; attitude to
prosecution of STASI employees; attitude to access to STASI files;
preference for thoroughly dealing with the GDR Past; demand for
resignation of Stolpe and the extradition of Honecker; appropriate
sentence for Honecker and judgement on his condition of health;
attitude to court proceedings as well as departure of Honecker to Chile
in case of demonstrated sickness.

Judgement on the influence of the trade unions and churches; attitude
to elimination of the church tax; judgement on the work of the
trust-company; decay of the Soviet Union as danger to the Federal
Republic; most reliable partner of Germany; Germany as reliable partner
for the NATO; attitude to withdrawal of US military forces from
Germany; attitude to abortion; importance of legal regulation regarding
abortion; preferred abortion regulation; satisfaction with the
situation in the housing market and most able party to solve these
problems; satisfaction with housing; length of residence; residential
status; judgement on current amount of rent; difficulties in
house-hunting in the last 5 years; impact of crime; most able party in
the fight against crime and necessity of stricter laws; attitude to
expansion of police authority to combat organized crime; attitude to
nursing care insurance and preferred provider; attitude to financing
nursing care insurance through introduction of a day without
compensation or elimination of a day of vacation; knowledge about the
recommendations on cost reduction in the public health system;
preference for a limitation of doctor fees, price of medications or
patient participation; expected effectiveness of health care reform;
judgement on the trustworthiness of politicians and their income;
preference for job security or environmental protection; sacrifice of
income for the benefit of improvement in the environment; necessity of
an army in the Federal Republic; attitude to a professional army;
attitude to a reduction in troop strength and deployment of Federal
German Armed Forces outside of NATO territory or in Blue Helmet
missions of the UN; attitude to a European military mission in
Yugoslavia and participation of the Federal Republic in the naval
blockade against Serbia; attitude to the move of the government to
Berlin; attitude to elimination of a legal holiday compensated by an
additional day of vacation; necessity to found a political party for
Eastern Germany; attitude to conducting plebiscites with important
political questions; perceived obligation to support the former Soviet
Union; willingness to purchase food altered by gene technology;
knowledge about the interest withholding tax; expected change in tax
rates for interest return; institution responsible for the current
unemployment in Eastern Germany; knowledge of unemployed persons doing
illicit work; readiness to employ illicit workers; knowledge of
recipients of unemployment support unwilling to work; adequate efforts
of the unemployed to find a job; creation of jobs as government task;
sympathy scale for France, Great Britain, Israel, Italy, Greece,
Poland, Russia, Spain and the USA; number of trips to Eastern Germany
this year and since re-unification; attitude to the terms ´Wessi´
{´Westy´} and ´Ossi´ {´Easty´}; future significance of the USA for the
Federal Republic; sympathy for Americans; preference for Bush or
Clinton as American president; interest in sports; significance of the
Olympics success of the German team; judgement on the effort for the
Olympics; assessment of the extent of cases of doping among Olympics
winners; assessment of the effectiveness of drug tests and
discrimination against German athletes through stricter controls;
attitude to retention of stricter drug tests for German athletes;
judgement on the competition prohibition for Katrin Krabbe; attitude to
the application of Berlin for selection as Olympic site; attitude to
aid to those wanting to die or to determine one´s own time of death;
preferred blood-alcohol limit; judgement on the extent of alcohol
checks conducted; vacation trip and country visited last summer;
attitude to smoking in public; use of tobacco; personal judgement on
the previous year and assessment of the development for the following
year.

Also encoded was: date of interview.