Spring Study 2001

Political attitudes and behaviour. Party assessement.

Topics: confidence or fears about the future; satisfaction with democracy; sympathy scales for the parties CDU, CSU, SPD, FDP, Bündnis90/Die Grünen, PDS and Republikaner; right-left placement of the above-mentioned parties; right-left self-assessment; party affiliation and party; strength of party affiliation; fundamental or current party affiliation; self-assessment of voter type (common voter, alternate voter, non-voter); participation in the 1998 federal election and electoral behaviour; satisfaction with the politics of the elected party; party preference (sunday question); importance of different political tasks (good economic situation, effective protection against crime, protection of pensions, environmental protection, job security, uniform living conditions in East and West Germany, reduction of national debt, families with children, restriction of immigration); the most appropriate party for solving the above-mentioned tasks; assessment of the social order as fair or rather unfair; membership of a privileged or disadvantaged population group; opinion on statements on the state and on politics (only with socialism can all problems be solved, only by applying the law of the strongest in politics, can humanity´s problems be solved, the desire for a classless society, no more ideals for orientation in today´s society, in every democracy there are conflicts that have to be carried out by force, no better form of state than democracy, even if many things do not run as desired,´The ones up there´ do only what they want; views on politics (concerns to get more and more on the losing side, confidence that the state is doing the right thing for citizens, key branches of the economy must be nationalized, capitalism destroys the world, foreigners and asylum seekers are the ruin of Germany, Christian religion is superior to the Islamic religion, wealthy and powerful people prevent citizens from receiving the fair share of their work, most people don´t know how much their lives have been controlled by secret plans); opinion on family and gender roles (happy life without family, fulfillment of the woman´s professional wishes in a marriage or partnership; partnership is important, the man should have the last word in case of differences of opinion between (married) partners, a woman must have children in order to be happy); own internet connection; internet use in the last weeks; own e-mail address.

Demography: sex; age (birth year); denomination; frequency of church attendance; connectedness to the church; education; type of vocational training; occupation or occupation; previous occupation; current or former employment in public service; employment as a worker, clerk or civil servant; current or former employment in public service; former professional position; occupational characteristics; union member in household; affiliation with trade unions; cohabitation with a partner; marital status; number of persons contributing to household income; monthly net household income; number of persons in the household (household size).

Additionally coded was: region (West/East); weighting factors.