Jobs most important issue in current legislative period

Published in: 23.04.2010

For German voters, by far the most import issues on the political agenda are creating and maintaining jobs, followed by education and mastering the financial and economic crisis. Environmental policy and climate change play a minor role despite the public attention both issues received in recent months. These are the results from a representative survey conducted nation-wide by dimap – The Institute for Market and Political Research and dimap communications between 6 and 12 April 2010.

47% of respondents, regardless of demographic or social differences, said fighting unemployment was the most important political task at hand. With a large distance, education policy / school reforms follow with 18% of respondents saying this was an important topic as well as 15% which named economic and fiscal policy. Environmental protection / climate change and energy policy / nuclear energy are clearly deemed less crucial.

“In the economic and financial crisis, topics affecting the people directly grow increasingly relevant while long-term and cross-cutting problems become less significant“, says Ralf Welt, Managing Partner of dimap communications GmbH.

Unemployment is the most pressing political challenge for one in two citizens. It is clearly the most urgent issue for single parents: almost two-thirds of German single-parent households (71%) say the issue has top priority.

The younger the target group, the more important education policy / unemployment becomes. 25% of 18- to 24-year-olds call it a top issue, while only 14% of 55-year-olds and older follow suit. The level of education is also a decisive factor: the higher the level is, the more important education policy becomes. With regard to party affiliation, education policy is most important for voters of the Greens (26%), followed by voters of the liberal FDP (24%), the social-democratic SPD (20%), the conservative CDU/CSU (16%) and the left-wing party Die Linke (15%). The issue is more urgent for women (22%) than for men (13%).

The importance attached to economic and financial policy also depends on the level of education: 25% of university graduates call it a priority as opposed to only 11% of graduates of Haupt- and Realschule (who graduate after ninth and tenth grade). The issue is more important for people obtaining professional training (19%) than for those temporarily unemployed (19%).

The survey shows that creating and maintaining employment in the course of the economic crisis is a major voter expectation. Education policy and school reforms are considered vital due to the future perspectives they offer the following generations. The more educated the individual respondents are, the more important they deem education. Surprisingly, environmental protection / climate change (5%) and energy policy / nuclear energy (3%) are seen as crucial by only a small number of citizens, mostly for voters of Bündnis 90/Die Grünen (12% and 11%), while only 4% (environmental protection / climate change) and 3% (energy policy / nuclear energy) of CDU/CSU voters think this issue is significant. Angela Merkel’s image as “climate Chancellor” and her leading role during the Copenhagen climate talks apparently did not change conservative minds.

Image: Diagram of the most important political issues in Germany (excerpt)

About the survey: The survey was conducted by dimap – The Institute for Market and Political Research from 6 to 12 April 2010. The respondents were given the following open-ended question: “In your opinion, which are the most important political problems in Germany that need to be tackled within the next 2-3 years?” Up to three answers could be given individually. A representative sample of 1004 eligible German voters was interviewed.

Press contact: Daniel Florian, T: +49 (30) 59 00 01 10, E-Mail: d.florian@dimap-communications.de