Politbarometer 2022 (Cumulated Data Set)

The Politbarometer has been conducted since 1977 on an almost monthly basis by the Research Group for Elections (Forschungsgruppe Wahlen) for 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 population in the Federal Republic on current political topics, parties, politicians, and voting behavior. From 1990 to 1995 and from 1999 onward, the Politbarometer surveys were conducted separately in the eastern and western federal 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. The Politbarometer short surveys, collected with varying frequency throughout the year, are integrated into the annual cumulation starting from 2003.<br>The following topics are included in the total data set as a whole. In some cases they were asked at every survey time, but in others only at one or more survey times.

Most important political problems in Germany; intention to vote in the next federal election and party preference (Sunday question, first vote, second vote); could imagine voting for the following parties: SPD, CDU/CSU, Greens, FDP, AfD, and Die Linke; interest in the federal election; voting behavior in the last federal election in 2021; coalition preference; assessment of a coalition of SPD and Greens led by the SPD, a coalition of SPD, Greens and FDP led by the SPD, a coalition of SPD and CDU/CSU led by the SPD, a coalition of CDU/CSU and SPD led by the CDU/CSU, a coalition of CDU/CSU and Greens led by the CDU/CSU, and on a coalition of CDU/CSU, Greens and FDP led by the CDU/CSU; Sympathy scalometer for the SPD, CDU, CSU, Greens, FDP, AfD and Die Linke parties; satisfaction scalometer for the federal government consisting of the SPD, Greens and FDP and for the respective governing parties; ranking of the parties most liked; most important politicians in Germany; Sympathy scalometer for selected top politicians (Annalena Baerbock, Robert Habeck, Hubertus Heil, Lars Klingbeil, Winfried Kretschmann, Christine Lamprecht, Karl Lauterbach, Christian Lindner, Angela Merkel, Friedrich Merz, Cem Özdemir, Olaf Scholz, Markus Söder, Jens Spahn, Sarah Wagenknecht, Alice Weidel and Frank-Walter Steinmeier); satisfaction with democracy; interest in politics; assessment of current economic situation in the country; most competent party to solve economic problems in the country; assessment of current personal economic situation and expected economic situation in the coming year; expected upward trend in Germany (economic expectations); most competent party to create jobs and in the areas of corona policy, social policy, social justice, securing pensions and energy policy; right-wing extremism in Germany as a danger to democracy; more likely advantages or more likely disadvantages for the German population as a result of EU membership; assessment of cohesion in the EU after the election in Italy; suspected frequency of bribery in the European Parliament; assessment of Olaf Scholz´s work as Chancellor; assessment of Olaf Scholz´s work in the Ukraine crisis or in uncertain times; assessment of the work of Robert Habeck and Annalena Baerbock in the Ukraine crisis; assessment of the work of Robert Habeck as Minister of Economics and of Christian Lindner as Minister of Finance; assessment of the relationship between the governing parties; blame for the relationship between the governing parties; does Chancellor Olaf Scholz show leadership; assessment of the work of Frank-Walter Steinmeiner as Federal President; support for a further term of office for Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier; assessment of the work of the federal government of SPD, Greens and FDP; assessment of the respective assertiveness of the SPD, Greens and FDP in the traffic light government; assessment of the respective work of the SPD, Greens and FDP in the government; expectation for the continuation of the traffic light coalition until the next Bundestag election in 2025; expectation of a better government with the participation of the CDU/CSU; Germany can cope with more refugees from crisis areas; Germany can cope with many war refugees from Ukraine; opinion on the simplified admission procedure for refugees from Ukraine; reunification was right vs. not right; preponderance of differences or similarities between eastern and western Germany; assessment of social justice in Germany; is Friedrich Merz as party chairman leading the CDU successfully into the future; assessment of Friedrich Merz´s work as CDU party chairman; is Christian Lindner as party chairman leading the FDP successfully into the future; expected impact of the state election in NRW on federal policy; feeling threatened by crime; personal problem with rising energy prices; expectation of further rising prices; rising prices as a problem for prosperity in Germany; rising energy prices a personal problem; assessment of government relief measures against rising prices; assessment of government relief measures against rising prices for low-income, middle-income and higher-income citizens; assessment of financing further relief measures through additional debt; extent of the problem posed by rising prices for prosperity in Germany and for the respondent personally; opinion on a tax-funded gas price cap; extent of energy saving at home; justified accusation of competitive advantage for German companies through the planned 200 billion euro relief package; assessment of government relief measures as sufficient; opinion on the citizen´s income; opinion on CDU/CSU criticism of the citizen´s income; opinion on higher benefits in the planned citizen´s income; opinion on stricter requirements and sanctions for the unemployed in the new citizen´s income; opinion on facilitating the influx of foreigners; influx of foreigners as a contribution to combating the shortage of skilled workers; fuel rebate: Expected full pass-through of tax cut by petroleum companies to consumers; opinion on 9-euro ticket/ 49-euro ticket; expected greater use of public transport even after end of 9-euro ticket; German government will achieve climate protection targets in government program; opinion on 130km/h speed limit on German highways; weather in summer 2022 a consequence of climate change or within range of normal weather fluctuations; evaluation of the commitment of different actors in Germany to climate protection (politics, companies, citizens); opinion on illegal protest actions for climate protection; evaluation of the achieved goals at the United Nations World Climate Conference; opinion on higher payments by industrialized countries to poorer countries more affected by the climate crisis; fair share of living standards; Corona pandemic: Own health risk from corona virus; assessment of appropriateness of corona measures; opinion on mandatory isolation of Corona-infected persons; preferred timing for relaxation of Corona measures; elimination of almost all Corona protections is correct; intention to continue wearing mask voluntarily; extent of personally perceived burden of Corona crisis; support for mandatory vaccination of health and care workers; opinion of mandatory vaccination; expected implementation of mandatory vaccination; opinion of protests against Corona measures; opinion of breaking up Corona demonstrations for violations of Corona requirements; expected impact of high case rates from Omikron on hospitals; Corona pandemic will be over after Omikron wave; additional Corona wave expected next fall; federal states well prepared for new Corona wave; assessment of current Corona situation; opinion on barely existing Corona restrictions despite significant increase in Corona case numbers; call for more stringent protective measures in case of new Corona wave in fall; assessment of the legal ban on school closures; assessment of the legal ban on lockdowns for stores; opinion on the continuation of the mask requirement in long-distance and local public transport and in doctors´ surgeries, hospitals and nursing homes; opinion on the abolition of the mask requirement in public transport; opinion on the federal regulation of the mask requirement in public transport; nuclear phase-out: attitude towards the nuclear phase-out; opinion on the promotion of nuclear energy by the EU; opinion on extending the operation of nuclear power plants and of coal-fired power plants to secure the energy supply; opinion on accelerating the expansion of renewable energies; opinion on shutting down vs. continuing to operate nuclear power plants (shut down all nuclear power plants, keep two nuclear power plants on standby until April 2023 or longer than April 2023); assessment of the pace of the expansion of renewable energies; opinion on distance rules for the construction of wind turbines (reduce distances between wind turbines and houses vs. keep previous regulations); opinion on the introduction of a general compulsory social service for young people; Ukraine crisis: Opinion on the extent of Germany´s political concessions to Russia; expected invasion of Ukraine by Russian troops; Germany should increase economic pressure on Russia; opinion on arms deliveries by Germany to Ukraine; opinion on delivery of heavy weapons/ battle tanks to Ukraine; increased risk of attack due to delivery of heavy weapons; expected victory by Ukraine with the help of heavy weapons; reliable natural gas deliveries from Russia to continue despite Ukraine crisis; security of supply in the event of reduced gas deliveries from Russia; major power cuts expected in Germany in winter; serious problems expected in winter with gas supply to households and industry; extent of personal concerns due to energy crisis; expected resumption of Russian gas supplies to Germany after end of maintenance work on Nord Stream 1 gas pipeline; support for tightening of punitive economic measures against Russia; stop gas and oil imports from Russia despite Ukraine war vs. maintain; sufficient efforts by German government for future independence from Russian gas; continue to support Ukraine even as energy prices rise; opinion on Ukraine joining EU; expected Russian attack on eastern NATO countries; opinion on Finland and Sweden joining NATO; importance of NATO to Germany´s security in light of Ukraine war; NATO should increase troops in Baltic states; concern about larger war in Europe; concern about use of nuclear weapons by Russian President Putin; acceptance of larger territorial cessions by Ukraine to Russia; attitude towards increasing defense budget in response to Ukraine war; sufficient support for Ukraine by German government; opinion on more military support for Ukraine by Western countries; expected duration of Ukraine war (end this year or last longer); concern about Russian acts of sabotage in Germany; expected negotiations between Russia and Ukraine to end the war; importance of meetings of heads of state and government; progress expected in solving global problems after the G7 summit; SPD should distance itself more strongly from ex-Chancellor Schröder; opinion on the demand in the SPD for ex-Chancellor Schröder to be expelled from the party because of his closeness to Putin; importance of Germany´s economic independence from China; China´s assessment of Western democracies; World Cup: Opinion on the German national soccer team´s participation in the World Cup in Qatar; Germany´s expected victory in the World Cup; how far will the German team get in the World Cup; opinion on criticism for violating human rights in Qatar; opinion on the DFB´s decision not to wear the one-love captain´s armband at the World Cup in Qatar; Hansi Flick successfully leads the German national soccer team into the future; left-right self-ranking; ranking of the SPD, CDU, CSU, Greens, FDP, AfD and Die Linke parties on a left-right continuum; personal review of the past year 2022; outlook for the coming year 2023.

Demography: sex; age (categorised); school leaving certificate or desired school leaving certificate; completed studies or vocational training; occupation; own job at risk; occupational group; household size; number of persons in the household 18 years and older; trade union member in the household; denomination; frequency of church attendance; party affiliation and party identification.

Additionally coded: respondent ID; version; survey month; survey week; federal state; survey area; city size; sample frame (landline or mobile phone sample); weighting factors: representative weight, total weight.