State Election in Lower Saxony 2013

Assessment of parties and politicians. Attitude to political questions and issues of the day.

Topics: Most important political issues in Lower Saxony; intention to vote in the state election; intended type of vote (polling station or postal vote); party preference (first and second vote); timing and certainty of one´s voting decision; importance of federal politics for one´s voting decision at the state level; top candidate, party programme or party affiliation most important for one´s own voting decision; interest in the state election; voting behaviour in the last state election; coalition preference; attitude towards a coalition of CDU and FDP, of SPD and Greens, of CDU and SPD, of CDU and Greens as well as of SPD, Greens and Left; sympathy scalometer for selected parties at federal and state level; satisfaction with the performance of the state government of CDU and FDP, the respective performance of CDU and FDP in the state government, SPD, Greens and Left in the opposition, and the performance of the federal government of CDU/CSU and FDP (scalometer); Knowledge of the respective top candidates of CDU and SPD for the office of prime minister; sympathy scalometer for selected top politicians (Stefan Birkner, David McAllister, Angela Merkel, Anja Piel, Philipp Rösler, Peer Steinbrück and Stefan Weil - scalometer); party which is best or second most liked; interest in politics; preference for David McAllister or Stephan Weil as prime minister; Split A: comparison of credibility, likeability, expertise, closeness to the people and better suitability for the federal state of the two top politicians (end of Split A); Split B: Assessment of own economic situation, the economic situation of the federal state in general as well as in comparison to the other western German federal states; economic expectations for Lower Saxony; most competent party to solve the economic problems in the federal state, in the area of job creation, financial policy, school and education policy, family policy, energy policy, social justice (end of split B) as well as to solve future problems of the federal state; opinion on the future viability of the federal state; assessment of the work of Prime minister David McAllister; expected further exploratory work for a nuclear waste repository in Gorleben.

Attitudes to political issues in Lower Saxony: Split B: outcome of the state election says nothing about the outcome of the next Federal Parliament Election; Die Linke party is not needed in western Germany; best days are behind the Pirate Party; Peer Steinbrück will no longer be SPD candidate for chancellor if SPD and Greens fail to bring about a change of government in Lower Saxony (end of Split B); Split A: Election victory of SPD and Greens in Lower Saxony is synonymous with an election victory in the next Federal Parliament Election; overcoming of the nationwide FDP crisis through an entry of the FDP into the state parliament; significance of Peer Steinbrück as SPD candidate for chancellor for the SPD´s performance in the state election resp. of Philipp Rösler as FDP party leader for the FDP´s performance in the state election (helpful, detrimental or does not play a major role); assessment of the damage caused to the CDU by former prime minister Christian Wulff (end of split A); personal importance for the respondent in the state election: Government party or person of the prime minister; expected winner of the state election; Split A: expected entry of the FDP into the state parliament (5% hurdle); attitude towards an entry of the FDP, the Left Party and the Pirate Party into the state parliament (end of Split A); federal policy: assessment of the CDU´s course in the federal government as too modern, just right or too conservative; assessment of the SPD´s commitment in the federal government with regard to social justice.

Demography: age (classified); marital status; living with a partner; school education; higher education; vocational training; occupation; assessment of own job security; occupational status; household size; number of persons in the household aged 18 and over; trade union member in the household; religious denomination; frequency of churchgoing; party affiliation; party identification; number of telephone numbers in the household; sex; eligibility to vote in Lower Saxony; city size.

Additionally coded were: Interview date; questionnaire number; weighting factor.

For various questions (politician profile and competences) a bifurcated questionnaire was used (split: only asked to half of the respondents in each case).