GLES Tracking June 2024, T58

The German Longitudinal Election Study (GLES) is the central infrastructure project in Germany for the continuous collection and provision of high-quality data for national and international election research. The methodologically diverse surveys of the GLES enable the research of political attitudes and behavior of voters and candidates. Since its foundation, the GLES has been conducted in close cooperation between the German Society for Electoral Research (DGfW) and GESIS – Leibniz Institute for the Social Sciences.

The GLES tracking (formerly: long-term online tracking) consists of cross-sectional surveys with about 1,000 respondents each, which have been conducted at regular intervals since 2009. Four online surveys (CAWI) were implemented per year between 2009-2017 and three per year starting in 2018. The sample is based on quota selection from an online access panel. The questionnaire contains core questions on major political and social issues, module questions, and questions on current political events. In addition, between 2009 and 2017, researchers were able to implement their own questions through Call for Questions. The GLES Tracking allows the analysis of short-term changes. On the occasion of state elections, supplementary surveys were conducted simultaneously to the regular tracking between 2009 and 2017.

This tracking includes the core questionnaire on central aspects of election and political attitude research and socio-demographic information. In T58, questions on the European elections and on voting eligibility from the age of 16 were also included. In addition to the regular GLES Tracking (main sample), around 300 people between the ages of 16 and 19 (boost sample) were surveyed as potential first-time voters in the 2024 European elections.