The True European Voter

The “True European Voter” (TEV) research project harmonized and integrated the available cross-sectional survey data of National Election Studies in various European countries.<br>1. Variables identifying studies and respondents: country; election year; election type: general election or presidential election; pre-election study/post-election study; first or second round presidential election; weights; election study ID (original and TEV); respondent ID.

2. General background variables: Gender of respondent; age; age of respondent at time of election; age groups; marital status; urbanization; region; ethnicity; education; religious denomination; churchgoing frequency; religiosity;

3. Occupation and class: respondent is head of household; Erikson-Goldthorpe-Portocarero class schema occupational classification; employment in public or private sector of economy; subjective social class membership; income; union membership of respondent or family member; union; home ownership.

4. Political interest and involvement: interest in politics; interest in voting; frequency of media use (e.g., television news, daily newspapers) in general or during election campaign; timing of voting decision; political efficacy; legitimacy beliefs: Satisfaction with democracy; trust in institutions; objective and subjective political knowledge.

5. Party attachment: party membership; party identification.

6. Sympathy towards parties and their leaders: sympathy for political parties, leaders of political parties, and presidential candidates.

7. Left-right positions: Left-right self-placement; left-right placement of political parties.

8. Economic and non-economic evaluations.

9. Value dimensions: role of Christian values in society; attitudes toward the position of the family, abortion, pornography, and homosexuality; the role of religious education in schools; traditional vs. modern values in society;

State: attitudes toward the state in terms of: Regulation of the market economy, size of the welfare state/public sector, privatization (privatization of health care, etc.), socialization of private enterprises, regulation of private property, level of public social insurance and benefits (replacement rates), income equality vs. the need for incentives, tax level/tax progression, and economic democracy (influence of employees/workers in companies.

Authoritarian/liberal values: emphasis on law and order, strict measures against crime and criminals, size of defense forces; attitudes toward greater political and social participation and involvement in decision making versus need for efficient decision making without much involvement; attitudes toward respect for authorities.

Economic growth: attitudes toward environmental protection in general; environmental protection versus economic growth; attitudes toward economic growth/high productivity; attitudes toward nuclear power; attitudes toward private motoring; speed of development of energy sources (hydroelectric, oil, etc.).

Materialism/ post-materialism.

Ethnicity and immigration: attitudes toward immigrants; attitudes toward foreigners; attitudes toward foreign customs practiced in own neighborhood; attitudes toward foreign religions; attitudes toward races other (than own).

European integration and European Union: attitudes toward European integration in general; attitudes toward the European Union; attitudes toward EU membership; attitudes toward EU enlargement.

10. Valence issues and competence measures: indicators of two concepts of the valence question in voting: 1. importance respondents attach to the country´s problems and 2. competence attributed to political actors to solve these problems; ratings of government´s past performance on issues/policies.

11. Voting behavior: Voter turnout and voting decisions in the current election and the last election.

12. Generic and synthetic variables.