DOI: 10.3886/icpsr03138.v1
title: French National Election Study, 1997
title: Version 1

description: The 1997 French National Election Study was conducted
 between the first and second ballots of the parliamentary election,
 which took place in France on May 25 and June 1, 1997. The intent of
 this study was to provide data for the analysis of electoral
 behavior. Information was gathered on respondents' interest in
 politics, political identification, participation, vote decision and
 behavior during the first ballot of the election, intention to take
 part in the second ballot and, if so, for whom they intended to vote,
 and prediction about the political composition of the parliament and
 the government after the election. Respondents were asked about their
 attitudes toward campaign proposals, including civil servant staff
 cuts, a guaranteed minimum wage raise, creation of 350,000 public
 jobs, a reduction of the work week to 35 hours, and relief of the
 social security contributions paid by firms. Other questions probed
 respondents' perceptions of the political proposals of the Left and
 RPR-UDF (Union pour la Democratie Francaise-Rassemblement pour la
 Republique) parties and the capability of these parties to solve
 current economic, political, and social problems in France. The survey
 also collected information on respondents' voting decisions in the
 March 1993 parliamentary election and the 1995 presidential election, and
 gauged respondents' satisfaction with Jacque Chirac's politics since
 his 1995 election and support for Alain Juppe and Lionel Jospin. In
 addition to the major political themes, the study investigated
 respondents' perceptions of the economy, focusing on European Union
 (EU) issues such as the single currency, the strength of the EU in
 relation to independent member states, advantages to France of being
 an EU member, EU influence on social welfare, and economic growth in
 France, as well as EU influence on protection against economic
 globalization. Other items covered respondents' opinions about
 national identification, democracy, religious tolerance, racism, the
 death penalty, nationalist tendencies toward immigrants and
 immigration law, the education system, trade unions, state economic
 policy, solidarity, privatization, public utilities, liberalism, the
 role of strikes, and respondents' solidarity with strike movements in
 November-December 1995. Demographic data collected on respondents
 include gender, age, marital status, education level, social status,
 employment status, occupation, religion, and, for Catholics, degree of
 religiosity. Some questions concerned respondents' relatives, including
political leaning, employment status, occupation, and nationality.
description: Quota sample.
description: Datasets: 
DS1: French National Election Study, 1997
description: French citizens 18 years or older registered on the
electoral list.
description: (1) For the variables Q12, Q31A1, and Q31A2 there is a
 coding inconsistency between the data definition statements and the
 dataset in terms of data values for the label "SR". Users should
 adjust the data definition statements to correspond to the dataset.
 (2) The value label codes included in the French and English versions
 of the questionnaire do not correspond with the codes in the
 dataset. Users should use the value label codes from the data
 dictionary in the codebook or from data definition statements. (3)
 Users should consult the principal investigator regarding use of the
 weight variables. (4) The data were collected by SOFRES, Paris,
 France. (5) The codebook is provided by ICPSR 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 on the ICPSR Web site.