DOI: 10.3886/icpsr06913.v1
title: Politbarometer West [Germany], Partial Accumulation, 1977-1998
title: Version 1

description: This study consists of a partial accumulation of 79 variables selected from the 1977 through 1998 Politbarometer West surveys. Not all the variables are available for each survey year. The major issues covered in this data collection relate to elections, politics, economics, national security, and unification of the German Democratic Republic and the Federal Republic of Germany. Election and political topics include respondents' party preferences and voting behavior in the last election, level of sympathy for other parties, satisfaction with the federal administrations, and opinions about opposition parties. Other political variables provide information on level of satisfaction with democracy, whether politicians were in the right positions, and the political interests of the respondent. Data on economic topics cover respondents' opinions on the economic situation of the Federal Republic and presumed further development, their own economic situations and expected development, and how the German economy compared with neighboring western European countries. Other economic variables include the competence of the administration or of the opposition party in ensuring jobs, improving the economic situation in East and West Germany, bettering the environment, and securing income. National security issues focus on military threats and peace security in Europe. Variables on German unification cover respondents' attitudes toward the unification of the two German states, increased world political responsibility of a united Germany, and asylum seekers and immigrants to Germany in general. Also included are respondents' opinions on the most important problems in the Federal Republic, events of the previous year, and predictions for the coming year. Demographic information on respondents includes sex, age, marital status, occupation and employment status, religious preference, and trade union membership.
description: (1) The codebook is in German. (2) This collection has not been processed by ICPSR staff. ICPSR is distributing the data and documentation for this collection in essentially the same form in which they were received. When appropriate, documentation has been converted to Portable Document Format (PDF), data files have been converted to non-platform-specific formats, and variables have been recoded to ensure respondents' anonymity. (3) The codebook is provided by the principal investigator as a Portable Document Format (PDF) file. The PDF file format was developed by Adobe Systems Incorporated and can be accessed using PDF reader software, such as the Adobe Acrobat Reader. Information on how to obtain a copy of the Acrobat Reader is provided through the ICPSR Web site.
description: Between 1977 and June 1988: Citizens of voting age in the Federal Republic of Germany. Between 1988 and 1998: Citizens of voting age living in the Federal Republic of Germany in private households with telephones.
description: Between 1977 and June 1988: Multistage stratified random sampling of people of voting age. Between August 1988 and 1998: Random sampling of people of voting age who lived in private households with telephones. Selection was according to an RDL process (randomizing the last digit of the phone number). Data collection conducted from 1977 to 1989 excluded West Berlin, while data collection from 1990 to 1998 included West Berlin.