Election Study 1990 (Panel)

Judgement on parties, politicians and political issues in a four-wave
panel study. Political attitudes and judgement on the election campaign
before and after the Federal Parliament Election 1990.

Topics: most important political problems in the Federal Republic;
interest in politics; party preference (Sunday question and ballot
system, rank order procedure); voting behavior in the last Federal
Parliament Election; sympathy scale for parties and leading
politicians; satisfaction with democracy; attitude to an absolute
majority of the SPD or CDU and to a grand coalition; coalition
preference; judgement on the current economic situation and on future
development in the Federal Republic and in Eastern Germany; personal
economic situation and future development; issue-relevance and
issue-competence of the parties or coalitions; attitude to the
35-hour-week, to the support of emigrants and to the right to vote for
foreigners; self-classification and classification of the parties as
well as of the chancellor candidates on a left-right continuum;
postmaterialism; attitude to the unification of the two German States
and preference for a quick unification; expectation of short-term or
long-term advantages or disadvantages for the West German population
due to reunification; support for Kohl or Lafontaine in the question of
reunification; preference for federal chancellor; comparison of the two
chancellor candidates by means of a list of characteristics;
characteristics of an ideal chancellor candidate; satisfaction with the
government coalition as well as the individual parties; point in time
of voting decision; preference for a government by a single party or a
coalition; satisfaction with the Federal Parliament Election result;
improvement of the election result with alternative chancellor
candidates; knowledge of election predictions and their influence on
one´s voting decision; interest in opinion polls; judgement on the
Federal Parliament Election campaign; neutrality of television in the
election campaign; parties given favored treatment on television;
personal participation in election meetings; attitude to trade unions
as well as to the catholic and protestant church; expected winner of
the Federal Parliament Election; attitude to the entry of the
Republicans or the PDS into the Federal Parliament; concern about one´s
job; political discussions within the family and interest in news on
television as well as in local and national daily newspapers; interest
in the political part of the daily newspaper and in election campaign
topics; interest in the election campaign; reading habits; most
important news sources; reading SPIEGEL and ZEIT.

Demography: age; sex; marital status; religious denomination;
religiousness; frequency of church attendance; school education;
vocational training; examination or diploma; profession; employment;
industrial sector; composition of household; respondent is head of
household; characteristics of head of household; union membership;
memberships; party inclination.