Tekijät

• Moring, Tom (University of Helsinki)
• TNS Gallup Finland

Asiasanat

European Parliament elections, election campaigns, political allegiance, political attitudes, television advertising, voting, voting behaviour

Sisällön kuvaus

The survey studied the 2004 European Parliament elections in Finland, focusing on election campaigning, political advertising and voting behaviour. The survey was conducted as part of the "Changes in Finnish TV Election Campaigns" project. At first, respondents were asked whether they had noticed political advertising in the media, had followed election issues in the media (radio, television, newspapers) or on the Internet, had attended election campaign events, or discussed the elections with other people. Respondents were asked to what extent they agree with several statements relating to the election campaign. They were asked whether they had voted in the elections, and when they had decided who to vote for. The importance of various issues (e.g. environment, immigration, crime prevention) to the voting decision was also investigated.

Respondents were asked to rate the influence of certain issues on the decision which candidate/party to vote for. The issues included: candidate's expertise in EU issues, candidate/party policy on how to develop the EU, etc. Their reasons for the decision to vote in the elections were charted. Further questions covered the sources used to obtain information. One question asked which candidate the respondent had voted for in the elections. Non-voters were asked why they had not voted.

A set of questions explored whether the respondents had seen television advertisements for certain political parties. Those who had seen television advertisements were asked to evaluate their impact, i.e., had the advertisements been beneficial or harmful with regard to the candidate/party the respondent supported. In conclusion, respondents were asked the candidate of which party they would vote for if the Finnish parliamentary elections were held now, which party had they voted for in the 2003 Finnish parliamentary elections, and which party they would vote for if they were in a situation in which they were obliged to vote for one.

Background variables included, among others, the respondent's gender, year of birth, marital status, household composition, number of household members, number of children aged under 21 living at home, education, economic activity, industry of employment, employer type, working hours, trade union membership, which party would vote for if the Finnish parliamentary elections were held at that time, which party had they voted for in the 2003 parliamentary elections and in the 2000 municipal elections, left-right political self-placement, social class, household annual gross income, monthly housing costs, household loans, economic situation, accommodation type, housing tenure, use of mobile phone, driving habits, frequency of Internet use, and region of residence.