German election panel study, 1972

This study consists of a national area probability sample of voting age citizens of the Federal Republic of Germany. Interviewing for the study was conducted in three waves, two preceding the election and one immediately following. Interviewing for the first pre-election wave began in late September and yielded 2,052 respondents, weighted N=2,024.5. Interviewing for the second pre-election wave began in late October and produced 1,603 re-interviews, weighted N=1,583.5. A total of 1,222, weighted N=1,210.1, were reinterviewed during December in the last, post-election, wave. Both pre-election interviews began by asking the respondent to assess the present and future economic situation of the Federal Republic. The respondent was then asked his/her party identification, to separately evaluate each party on a feeling scalometer, and to rank the parties in a preference ordering. Another portion of the two pre-election interviews dealt with the respondent's interest in a broad range of political issues and which party could best deal with each issue. Both interviews inquired into the visibility of political figures in Bonn and evaluations of the two chancellor candidates. The first two waves also investigated the respondent's voting behavior in the 1969 election and anticipated behavior in the 1972 election.