Political Tasks with a Particular Need for Action (October 2023)

The study on political tasks with a particular need for action was conducted by the Allensbach Institute for Public Opinion Research on behalf of the Press and Information Office of the Federal Government. During the survey period from October 6 to October 19, 2023, the attitudes of the German population aged 16 and over were determined in personal interviews on the topics where they regularly see a great need for political action: Health and care, pensions and old-age provision, housing and education. The interviewees were selected using a quota sample. The findings are supplemented by results from eight qualitative group discussions conducted by GIM on behalf of the BPA.<br>Areas of major concern; areas in need of reform in Germany; areas in which reforms by the federal government are expected; perception of measures adopted by the traffic light government in the past two years or planned for the future (e.g. expansion of all-day care for primary school children, introduction of an electronic patient file, introduction of an equity pension, etc.); assessment of these measures as correct vs. not correct; perceived improvement vs. Deterioration of the situation in various areas over the past two years (healthcare, care for people in need of long-term care, pensions and old-age provision, availability of affordable housing, education system); areas in which the government has initiated the right reforms, reforms that are going in the wrong direction or have not done much (healthcare, care for people in need of long-term care, pensions and old-age provision, availability of affordable housing, education system).

Healthcare system: Assessment of the healthcare system and healthcare provision in Germany; trust in good medical care in general and in emergencies; requirements to ensure good healthcare provision in ten years´ time (remedy the shortage of skilled workers in the nursing professions, admit more students to medical degree programs, increase health insurance contributions, reduce health insurance benefits, improve healthcare provision in rural areas, merge hospitals, reduce bureaucracy and documentation requirements for doctors and nursing staff, drive forward the nationwide introduction of electronic patient records, manufacture important medical products such as protective clothing or certain medicines in Germany, expand digital services for patients, e.g. video consultations with the attending physician, design and prepare emergency plans for pandemics); key players for good healthcare in the future (politicians, doctors, health insurance companies, others); assessment of the healthcare and care situation in the region (there are not enough doctors in the region, all in all there is good medical care in the region, there is a lack of staff in the hospitals, it is difficult to get a place with an outpatient care service or in a nursing home, the nursing homes in the region lack qualified staff, the nursing homes in the region offer good overall care for people in need of care, the emergency rooms in hospitals are often overloaded, the nursing homes are very expensive, there is sufficient space in nursing homes, there is a lack of qualified staff in doctors´ surgeries, hospitals are being closed or merged); family members currently in need of care or expected need of care of a family member in the next 5 to 10 years; respondent cares for family members himself or expects to do so in the future.

Housing: Satisfaction with current housing situation; housing status; perceived burden of rental costs and utilities; change in rent level in recent years; house or apartment is big enough, need more space, even have too much space; characterization of the housing market and housing situation in the region (many vacant houses or apartments, many people move in, population is increasing, many young people, many people move away, population is decreasing, it is very difficult to find an apartment or house, many foreigners or refugees live here, residential area is attractive, many new apartments and houses are being built, many families with children, very high housing costs, mainly older people live here, real estate prices and rents have been rising for years, more and more newcomers and fewer and fewer people from here live here, unsafe residential area, lots of crime, good infrastructure, well suited for older people); suitable measures to create more affordable housing (promotion of social housing, rent subsidies for low-income earners (housing benefit); limiting rent increases (rent freeze), support for low- and middle-income families to buy their own home, upper limit for rents in a region (rent cap); financial support for people who want to buy their own home to provide for their old age, denser development of residential areas, raising the height of existing buildings by adding additional storeys, easing government regulations, e.g. energy standards, increased construction of apartment buildings instead of single-family homes in urban areas, faster issuance of building permits, state subsidies for the purchase of houses in need of renovation, tax incentives for residential construction (better depreciation options), conversion of commercial properties into residential space).

Education: Education system needs comprehensive reform vs. no need for reform; vocational education and training needs comprehensive reform vs. no need for reform; children going to school; satisfaction with child/children´s school; main problems at children´s school or the main problems at schools in general that need to be solved as a matter of urgency (too many lessons are canceled, curricula do not meet today´s requirements, classes are too large, teachers are not trained well enough, too little after-school care, many pupils do not have sufficient German language skills, many refugee children need to be integrated into classes, lack of discipline in classes, too few teachers, increasing violence, too much pressure on pupils to perform, too few support opportunities for children from socially disadvantaged families, too long journeys, poor digital equipment, dilapidated buildings, school not prepared enough for inclusion); preference with regard to responsibility for education policy (primarily the federal states, federal government and federal states together or only the federal government).

Pension: Pension is secure vs. doubts about pension security; opinion on the need to reform the pension system; particularly important political measures for reliable old-age provision (increase retirement age, state should offer a new product for private old-age provision to supplement the statutory pension, provide greater support for private and occupational pension provision, increase contributions to statutory pension insurance, oblige all occupational groups to pay into pension insurance, including civil servants, the self-employed, politicians, create incentives to work longer beyond the retirement age, increase taxes to finance statutory pension insurance, oblige citizens to make private provision in addition to statutory pension insurance, state should build up capital whose income should stabilize pension contributions); respondent lives entirely or predominantly on an old-age pension or retirement pension; own (previous) efforts to provide for old age sufficient vs. not sufficient; satisfaction with the amount of own pension; assessment of personal financial situation in old age; people affected by old-age poverty among friends or family; assessment of own financial situation.

Demography: sex; age; age categories; school-leaving qualification; occupation; occupational status; monthly net income of main earner (grouped); main earner (respondent, other person in household); children; number of children; age of children; number of children in household; multi-person household or single household; number of people in household with own income; monthly net household income (grouped); marital status; living with a partner; interest in politics; party sympathy.

Additionally coded were: external questionnaire number; indicator of the questionnaire West-East; weighting; Nielsen areas; population of place of residence (size of place); character of place of residence; socio-economic status; respondent has named at least one of the 20 areas of major concern; respondent has named at least one of the 19 areas in need of reform in Germany; respondent has named at least one of the 19 areas in which reforms are expected from the federal government; named at least one of the 24 measures adopted by the traffic light government; named at least one of the 11 requirements to ensure good healthcare in ten years´ time; named at least one of the 4 most important players for good healthcare in the future; named at least one of the 11 points to assess the healthcare and care situation in the region; named at least one of the 16 points to characterize the region; named at least one of the 14 suitable measures to create more affordable housing; named at least one of the 14 main problems at schools; named at least one of the 16 main problems at the children´s school or at schools in general; named at least one of the 9 important political measures for reliable old-age provision.