Autumn Study 1979

Judgement on parties and politicians at federal as well as state level.

Topics: besides questions uniform at the federal level the
questionnaire also contains questions only posed in North
Rhine-Westphalia:

1. Federal part: assessment of economic situation in the Federal
Republic and economic development of personal household; political
interest; most important political events in the last year and
judgement on them by respondent; election participation and behavior at
the polls in the last Federal Parliament election; general agreement of
one´s own political opinion with top politicians and parties; changes
in agreement in recent time; party preference (ballot procedure);
significance of candidate for chancellor for one´s own voting decision;
demands of a good chancellor and a party one can vote for; most
important political tasks in the Federal Republic and issue competence
of the parties; satisfaction with the job of the government coalition
and opposition; satisfaction with democracy in the Federal Republic;
attitude to a tax party and an environmental protection party;
judgement on the chances of the Green List in the Federal Parliament
elections; personal readiness to vote for such parties; attitude to a
nation-wide extension of the CSU; party inclination; assumed position
of parties and top politicians in the area of nuclear energy questions
and personal position on this issue; judgement on the leadership
discussion within the CDU/CSU; assessment of the tax reduction as an
election gift; preference for tax reductions before or after the
Federal Parliament election; attitude to elimination of the motor
vehicle tax and increase in the petroleum tax; judgement on current and
future security of peace; judgement on the contribution to securing of
peace provided by conferences on disarmament and security; assessment
of the seriousness of the concessions of the East Bloc as well as of
the NATO nations in disarmament negotiations; most important political
tasks in the state and issue competence of the parties; party
preference for the state parliament election (Sunday question).

Demography: age; sex; marital status; religious denomination;
frequency of church attendance; school education; occupational
position; earlier and current employment; household income; size of
household; characteristics of head of household; self-assessment of
social class; reasons for assessment of social class; union membership;
position in household; number of persons in household 18 years old and
older; number of persons in household contributing to household income.

Interviewer rating: length of interview; date of interview;
description of place of residence.

2. State part: In North Rhine-Westphalia the following additional
questions were posed: general agreement of one´s own political opinions
with top politicians and parties in North Rhine-Westphalia; voting
intent in the next state parliament election; federal or state reasons
for voting decision; information conduct in the election campaign and
attendance at election campaign events; judgement on the election
campaign and advertising means used in it; most important political
problems at state and federal level.