Election to the House of Representatives in Berlin 1981

Judgement on parties and politicians. Attitude to political questions
at state level.

Topics: Satisfaction with democracy; interest in politics; willingness
to participate in the impending election to the House of
Representatives and decision for an absentee ballot; reasons for
abstention; party preference (ballot procedure and rank order
procedure) and time of personal voting decision; personal change in
party voted for; satisfaction with the top candidate of one´s preferred
party; behavior at the polls in the last election to the Berlin House
of Representatives; sympathy scale for Berlin top politicians, parties,
senate and opposition; politician preferred as mayor; participation in
collection of signatures by the CDU or Alternative List for an early
election to the Berlin House of Representatives; expectation that the
Alternative List will take seats in the House of Representatives;
attitude to the AL taking seats in parliament; attitude to absolute
majority of one party in the House of Representatives; coalition
preference; postmaterialism; attitude to the right of building owners
to let residences remain empty; attitude to house occupations;
preference for strict action by the police against demonstrators in
connection with house occupations; judgement on the conduct of the
Berlin Senate regarding house occupiers; self-classification on a
left-right continuum; issue relevance and issue ability of the parties
to solve political questions at state level such as house occupation,
creation of housing, reduction in the proportion of foreigners,
improvement in living conditions, job creation, policies on the old,
citizen influence on political decisions, support for alternate ways of
life, maintenance of law and order; ideas about further political and
social development of society (scale); preference for growth policy;
restriction of rights to demonstrate; importance of environmental
policy; abortion; less achievement pressure; reduction of party
influence; more influence of trade unions; securing energy supply
through use of nuclear power; job guarantee; attitude to women´s
groups, the welfare state, NATO and the Berlin aid of the Federal
Government; possible reasons for a reduction in the Berlin aid; assumed
tiredness of Berlin of the West Germans; ties to Berlin even in case of
closing of access roads; political participation (scale); personal
participation as well as possible willingness to participate in
selected forms of political influence or political protest; trust in
the promise of the western powers to guarantee freedom of West Berlin;
expected winner in the election to the House of Representatives;
self-assessment of social class; born in Berlin or year of moving to
Berlin; regional origins; social mobility; employment in the civil
service; assessment of economic circumstances of family during youth of
respondent; union membership; religiousness; party inclination and
party identification; characterization of residential area according to
occupational groups; residential status.

Interviewer rating: reliability and willingness of respondent to
cooperate.

Also encoded was: presence of third persons during interview and their
intervention in the course of the interview; number and times of
contact attempts; length of interview; date of interview;
identification of interviewer.