Authors

• Hellsten, Villiina (University of Helsinki. Department of Political Science)
• Martikainen, Tuomo (University of Helsinki. Department of Political Science)

Keywords

European integration, Finnishness, attitudes, businesses, elections, law enforcement, political participation, political parties, politicians, politics, social welfare philosophy, urban population, values, voting, young adults

Abstract

The survey charted young adults' attitudes towards politics, their opinions on the principal issues in politics, and their views on the current political questions.

The respondents' interest in politics was queried, as well as how firm the respondents considered their political views and party preference to be. They were also presented with a set of attitudinal statements on topics such as voting, political parties, the Government, political system in Finland, politicians, values, the EU, development aid, immigrants, leadership, democracy, large-scale enterprises, welfare state, social benefits, traditional Finnish values, law, equality between men and women, animal rights, patriotism, and competition.

Background variables included the respondent's municipality of residence, gender, age, marital status, type of accommodation, education level, duration of residence in the current municipality, and socio-economic status. Those who were employed were asked about their industry of employment and occupational status, students were asked about their educational institution and main subject, and those who were unemployed were in turn asked about the duration of unemployment during the past two years. Additional background variables included membership in various organisations or associations (e.g. sports clubs, youth organisations, student associations), how citizens should relate to elections and voting, whether R were going to use the right to vote in the future, which party R would vote for in parliamentary elections, which party R voted for in the recent municipal elections, and which candidate R is going to vote for in the upcoming 2000 presidential elections.