Tekijät

• von Schoultz, Åsa (University of Helsinki)
• Rapeli, Lauri (Åbo Akademi University)
• Söderlund, Peter (Åbo Akademi University)

Asiasanat

democracy, elections, electoral candidates, health services, mass media, political attitudes, political participation, political parties, politics, regional government, regional policy, social influence, social services, trust, voting

Sisällön kuvaus

The survey charted Finns' opinions on the 2022 county elections and wellbeing services counties. The survey examined respondents' political participation, political attitudes, party allegiance, candidate and party choices and voting behaviour. The data also includes questions on future prospects of Finland. The county elections survey was carried out by the Finnish election study consortium, a consortium of election and democracy researchers from several universities.

First, the respondent was asked about their interest in politics and their satisfaction with the functioning of democracy in Finland. Then, the respondent was asked how much he/she followed the county elections through different media and how often respondent discussed politics with other people. The respondents' opinions on voting, democracy, and forms of political decision-making were surveyed. Satisfaction with the political system was assessed by asking how much the respondent trusts various institutions, such as the government, political parties, the municipal council, the media, the Finnish institute for health and welfare and the regional state administrative agency. Next, the respondent's opinions were surveyed using a variety of statements related to county elections and local democracy. Respondents were also asked to rank in order of importance whom the county councillor should primarily represent. The respondent was also asked about access to information on county elections.

The next topic was political parties. Respondents were asked for their opinion on different political parties, and if they felt close to any political party. Respondents were also asked to place themselves on the left-right axis and on the value-liberal-conservative scale. The future direction of Finland was explored through attitudinal questions on issues such as multiculturalism, Christian values, climate change, government regulation and taxation. Next, respondents were asked about voting in county elections. Respondents were asked about not voting and the obviousness of not voting. Those who voted in the elections were asked in more detail about the party candidate they voted for, whether the candidate was a resident of their county area and at what point they made their voting decision. Finally, questions were asked about wellbeing services counties. Respondents were asked whether public money should be spent more, the same or less on health care than at present. In addition, a number of questions were asked on issues such as the services provided by the wellbeing services counties and by their own municipality, taxation and user charges.

Background variables included, among others, the respondent's year of birth, gender, education, marital status, wellbeing services county, occupational status, employer type, mother tongue, languages used at home, type of municipality of residence, type of dwelling, gross annual household income, number of people in the household, number of children, membership of an ethnic minority group, preferred method of accessing health services and party affiliation.