Politbarometer East 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>Interview repeated at every time of survey: most important
problems in Germany; satisfaction with democracy; party preference
(Sunday question and rank order procedure); behavior at the polls in
the last Federal Parliament election; sympathy scale for the parties,
coalition, opposition, for selected federal politicians and the state
government; self-classification on a left-right continuum; personal job
security; judgement on the proportion of foreigners in Germany;
judgement on the German unification process; ability of the government
or opposition in solving economic problems in Eastern Germany;
assessment of personal economic situation and expected development;
union membership; religiousness; party inclination and party
identification. Beyond this common part for all survey months of 1992
the following questions were also posed in at least one further survey
month: coalition preference; most important federal politicians; the
right people in leading position; assessment of disagreement or unity
in the federal parties; judgement on the federal chancellor; most
important federal chancellor in the history of the Federal Republic;
reasons for party dissatisfaction; expected coalition change of the FDP
and preference for a statement of willingness to form a coalition
before the next Federal Parliament election; judgement on the current
social crisis situation and expected development of the crisis; general
judgement on the condition of society; necessity of foreign workers for
the economy; foreigners as cultural enrichment; judgement on the
introduction of democracy according to western pattern in the GDR;
satisfaction with current living conditions; adequate commitment of the
Federal Government to achieve equivalent living conditions in East and
West; judgement on the time of currency union; judgement on the change
of one´s own economic situation since currency union; willingness to
sacrifice income for the benefit of improvement in the East German job
market situation; expected time period for equalization; areas of life
with particular changes since the turning point; judgement on the job
of the trust-company; general agreement with unification of the two
German nations; national pride; judgement on the stability of the DM
and ability of the government or opposition on this question; attitude
to tax increases and assessment of the necessity of tax measures to
finance German unity; expected tax increase in the current year;
judgement on increase in government debt to finance reunification;
preference for economizing instead of a tax increase; attitude to
reintroduction of the solidarity tax; most able party in policies on
asylum; judgement on the German right to asylum; 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 extent of applicants for political 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
to asylum; attitude to immediate deportation of applicants for
political asylum from countries without political persecution; expected
effectiveness of change in the right to asylum from the compromise
proposal of government and opposition; understanding for violence
against applicants for political asylum; assessment of the violent
criminals as hooligans or right-wing radicals; right-wing radicalism as
a problem in East or West; judgement on the level of union wage
demands; attitude to a strike to push wage demands through; 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 companies; preference for remaining an
independent state or as part of a European merger; advantages or
disadvantages from EC membership and the domestic market; approval of
the Maastricht Treaty; attitude to a plebiscite on the Maastricht
Treaty; attitude to a 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 to countries from the East as well as Austria,
Switzerland and Turkey; attitude to acceptance of responsibility by
united Germany in solving world conflicts; judgement on the influence
of the states on the Federal Republic; 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; attitude to contacts of the protestant church with
the STASI; demand for resignation of Stolpe and extradition of
Honecker; appropriate sentence for Honecker and judgement on his
condition of health; attitude to admission of Honecker into Chile in
case of demonstrated illness; attitude to Bernhard Vogel as successor
to Prime Minister Duchac after his resignation; attitude to a general
filling of top positions in politics in Eastern Germany by persons from
the West; preference for renovation or demolition of the Palace of the
Republic; decay of the Soviet Union as a danger to the Federal
Republic; most reliable partner of Germany; Germany as reliable partner
for NATO; attitude to withdrawal of US military forces from Germany;
receipt of a new notice of amount of pension; errors in this
notification; increase in pension payments compared with earlier;
judgement on the amount of pension; comparison of living conditions of
pensioners compared with other population groups; attitude to abortion;
importance of legal regulations regarding abortion; satisfaction with
the situation on the housing market and party most able to solve these
problems; satisfaction with housing; length of residence; presence of
central heating and possibility of turning the radiator down; judgement
on the fairness of the rent increase; 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 extension 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 of work 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, the price of medications or preference for
patient participation; expectation of a savings effect through health
care reform; necessity of an army in the Federal Republic; attitude to
a professional army; attitude to 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; necessity to found a political party for Eastern Germany;
willingness to buy food altered by gene technology; knowledge about the
interest withholding tax; expected change in tax rates for interest
returns; institution responsible for the current unemployment in
Eastern Germany; sympathy scale for France, Great Britain, Israel,
Italy, Greece, Poland, Russia, Spain and the USA; number of visits in
West Germany this year and since reunification; 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; assessment of the
extent of cases of doping among Olympics winners; assessment of the
effectiveness of drug tests and the discrimination against German
athletes by stricter controls; assessment of the retention of stricter
drug tests for German athletes; judgement on the competition
prohibition for Katrin Krabbe; attitude to application by Berlin for
selection as Olympic site; attitude to aid for those wanting to die or
determining 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; personal judgement on the previous year
and assessment of the development in the following year.

Also encoded was: date of interview.