Election Study 1957

Political attitudes. Assessment on democracy in the country. Attitude
towards democracy. Questions on the east west contrast. Description of
the respondent`s economic situation. Satisfaction in life, leisure-time
activities and expectations for the future.

Topics: Season preferred by the respondent; weather dependency of the
well-being and extent of the weather dependency; water scarcity during
the last heat wave in July; suffering during the great heat;
self-assessment of the state of health; ideal family size; assumed
minimum monthly budget for a family of four; number of acquaintances;
membership in a group of regulars or a coffee party and frequency of
the meetings; consent to the politics of Adenauer or Ollenhauer;
perception of recent Adenauer or Ollenhauer posters; preference of bus
or railway during longer journeys; consent to the statement, the life
would be the most beautiful if one did not have to work; assessment of
the change of the (economic) situation of the respondent in comparison
with the previous year; assessment of the present income of a worker;
justified income for selected professions; assessment of the present
worker status in comparison with the status in the Third Reich; support
of the rearmament in West Germany; assessment of the price increase and
expected development of the inflation; support of a reintroduction of
price controls; labour unions or employer as reasons for the price
increases; knowledge of the announced wage claims of the IG-Metal;
consent to a wage increase for the metalworkers; preference for private
capital investments in a savings bank or in gold; assumed European
country with the highest standard of living; assessment of the
fulfilment of the principle of the free choice of occupation and the
possibility of studying; assessment of the possibilities of
self-determination; most important abilities of a member of the
Bundestag; knowledge of the member of the Bundestag who represents the
constituency of the respondent; assessment of the work of the
constituency representative; knowledge of the constituency
representative`s name, party, place of residence or other details;
perceived political efficacy; assessment of the representation of
interests of the population by the representatives or the
representative`s own interests; interest of the respondent to attend a
Bundestag meeting; knowledge of the functioning of the Bundestag and
the activities of a representative; knowledge of the number of
representatives in the Bundestag; assessment of the necessity of a
parliament and of representatives; knowledge of the next Bundestag
election date; participation at the past parliamentary elections;
expected winner of election; the most capable politician in Germany;
assessment of the election slogans: ´We do not want experiments´ and
´we must look for a new way´; importance of the first impression when
becoming acquainted with a person (primacy effect); political knowledge
in terms of knowledge about the parties represented in the Bundestag
like BHE and FDP; knowledge of the FDP participation in the government;
assumption about the coming representation of the FDP party in the
Bundestag, about the existence of FDP secretaries in the Bundestag and
welcoming or regret about the not existence of FDP secretaries;
journeys to selected German cities within the last three years;
undertaken or planned vacation trips in the year of the interview;
geographical knowledge test by picture presentations of select
buildings like Eiffelturm, Leaning Tower of Pisa, Acropolis, Cheops
pyramid, Hall of Liberation, Cologne Cathedral; doubts about the
objectivity of the jurisdiction and decisions of the municipal
authority at adopted social differences of the persons concerned;
understanding of democracy; interest in politics; perceived freedom of
speech; preference for a leadership or a democratic executive committee
(split); attitude towards a revival of a national socialist party;
attitude towards demonstrations; frequency of reading newspaper;
knowledge about the distribution of the parties in the latest opinion
polls; knowledge of the election campaign statement that an electoral
victory of the SPD party means the decline of Germany; knowledge of the
originator of this statement and assumed motive of the originator;
attitude towards such election campaign statements (split); most
important criteria for a Bundestag applicant; influence or place
solidarity as preferred features of a member of the Bundestag from the
own constituency (split); subscription of a superregional or local
newspaper in the household; confidence in the press; frequency of
reading selected newspapers and magazines; frequency of cinema visits;
knowledge of the legislation system in the parliament; actual waste of
money in Bonn or exaggeration by the media; knowledge of the department
with the highest financial expenditure; most important political aims
and wishes (scale); attitude towards the construction of modern
churches; conversations about selected current political and social
themes (scale); preference for continuity or change by politicians
(split); support of the rearmament; belief in the possibility of being
able to go to the moon or other stars within 50 years; assumption about
the military possibility of America and Russia regarding remote
controlled rockets (split); knowledge of the Russian satellites and
attitude towards experimental use of an animal on this satellite for
space experiments; technical advantage of America or Russia at present
and within 50 years (split); attitude towards Russia overcoming America
concerning rockets; assumption about a greater progress in a democracy
or a dictatorship; Russian rocket successes by German researchers who
had been taken to Russia after the war; other living beings in the
universe; attitude towards technological progress and towards nuclear
energy; knowledge of the abbreviation UN; perception of inflation and
activities of the government concerning stability of prices (split);
assessment of the success of the German foreign policy and the breaking
off of the diplomatic relations to Yugoslavia; assessment of the
loyalty of the USA towards West Germany in case of war; assessment of
the military strength of the Soviet Union and the Americans in case of
war; knowledge of the partial membership of the secretaries in the
Federal Government; attitude towards a female secretary in the Federal
Government and preferred department for a female secretary; knowledge
of the legislation system: by government or parliament; preference for
a black red golden or black white red federal flag; readiness for a
membership in a political party; respondent`s participation at a party
meeting (since 1945) and name of the party; knowledge of persons who
have taken part in an election meeting with Adenauer; assessment of a
presented caricature as an injury of Christian faith; attitude towards
the ban on such caricatures; knowledge of leading SPD members;
preferred chairmanship of the SPD; importance of the proportional
representation of Roman Catholic and Protestant secretaries in the
government; knowledge of the secretaries in the Federal Government and
assessment of the secretaries; preference for a united party or party
variety in the Federal Republic; radio listening and preferred radio
programmes; satisfaction with the radio programme; frequency of
listening to newscasts on the radio; possession of a television
receiver; frequency of watching the news on television; possession of
long-lastingly commodities in the household; equipment of the household
with selected objects of utilities; possession of a two-wheeled
vehicle; possession of a car; household utensils which are prerequisite
for an adequate standard of living; comparison of the actual
possessions and appliances wished for an adequate standard of living;
satisfaction with the apartment or desire for a change; living status;
preferred furnishing style for a living room after picture
presentation; preferred furniture style (picture presentation, split);
preferred architectural style of a residential building (picture
presentation); interest in private property; preference for rented
apartment or save money for a private residential building; willingness
for a hire-purchase; assessment of the political influence of the
(Roman Catholic, Split) church in West Germany; preference for planned
economy or free economy; attitude towards the introduction of a
monarchy; thoughts on Christmas presents and handing over of the
presents as a surprise; human destiny controlled by the stars; faith in
horoscopes; change of life at a hypothetical new beginning; general
life satisfaction; satisfaction with the own life course; wishes for
change in life and listing of good intensions concerning e.g. one`s
consumer behaviour, the religious behaviour, the general behaviour
towards fellow beings sporty behaviour, working more, being more
assertive and relaxed, played card games during leisure time, board
games, parlour games; self classification as happy; knowledge of
Nefertiti by means of a picture presentation and assignment to the
country of origin; knowledge of the cosmetic company which uses it as a
symbol; preferred sporting leisure activity and attendance of sporting
events; playing with children.

Demography: Federal state; size of place; status as a refugee and
country of origin; wish to return to respondent`s country of origin at
an assumed reunification of Germany; denomination; sex; age; date of
birth; school-leaving qualification; occupation; professional position;
suffered damage for the family by the denazification; type of
insurance: invalid, employee or miner`s guild insurance; present
pension salary of the respondent or breadwinner from the invalid,
employee or miner´s guild insurance or additional pension salary; kind
of the pension; effect of the reform of pensions on own pension amount
or on other household members` pension; further training (attended
general or occupational classes, learning of languages, reading of
books and professional journals); net income of the household;
respondent`s income increased within the last half a year and income
development expected within the next half a year; living solitarily in
the household; size of household; living in a retirement home;
composition of the household; householder; marital status; year of
divorce; reason for the divorce; cooking person in the household;
monthly expense for food per person in the household; religiousness;
labour union membership; sporty exercise; membership in a sports club
and activity in the sports club; membership in the union of the
taxpayers or union of new monarchists; military service in the 2nd
World War and military rank; right to vote; intention to vote at the
coming parliamentary elections and certainty of the own participation;
relevance of the election results; party preference (Sunday question);
affinity to a party; membership of the respondent or a household member
in a book club and name of the book club; number of books bought last
year.

Interviewer rating: social classification of the respondent;
acquaintance of the interviewer with the respondent before the
interview; presence of partner during the interview; respondent`s
interest in the interview; assessment of the interview duration as good
or too long; assumed intelligence of the respondent; weekday of the
interview; interview duration.