State Election in Hesse 2023

The study on the state election in Hesse 2023 was conducted by Forschungsgruppe Wahlen. In the survey period from 02.10.2023 to 06.10.2023, 1258 eligible voters in Hesse were surveyed in telephone interviews (CATI) and online interviews (CAWI) on the following topics: Political opinion: Parties. Top candidates. Problems and competencies. Voting decisions in the context of candidate preference and party competence. The respondents were selected using a multi-stage random sample.

Content:
Most important political issues in Hesse; intention to vote in the state election; intended type of vote (polling station or postal vote); party preference (first vote and second vote); certainty of own voting decision; importance of federal politics for own voting decision at state level; Interest in the state election; voting behavior in the last state election; coalition preference; attitude towards a coalition of CDU and Greens led by the CDU, CDU and SPD led by the CDU, SPD, Greens and FDP led by the SPD, and Greens, SPD and FDP led by the Greens; likability scalometer for selected parties at federal and state level; satisfaction with the performance of the state government consisting of the CDU and Greens, the CDU in the state government in Hesse, the Greens in the state government in Hesse, and the performance of the SPD, the AfD, the FDP and the Left Party in opposition, as well as the performance of the federal government consisting of the SPD, Greens and FDP (scalometer); likability scalometer for selected top politicians (Tarek Al-Wazir, Nancy Faeser and Boris Rhein); party that is most or second best; interest in politics; split A: preference for Boris Rhein or Tarek Al-Wazir as Minister President in Hesse and for Boris Rhein or Nancy Faeser as Minister President in Hesse; comparison of the credibility, likeability and expertise of Boris Rhein and Nancy Faeser (end of split A); Split B: Preference for Boris Rhein or Nancy Faeser as Minister President in Hesse and for Boris Rhein or Tarek Al-Wazir as Minister President in Hesse; comparison of the credibility, likeability and expertise of Boris Rhein and Tarek Al-Wazir (end of split B); assessment of the current economic situation in Hesse and own economic situation; expected own economic situation in one year; split A: most competent party for solving the economic problems in Hesse and on the housing market as well as in the area of climate protection (end of split A); split B: Most competent party in the areas of energy policy, school and education policy, social justice and transport policy in Hesse (end of split B); party most likely to represent a policy in line with the respondent´s views in the areas of refugees and asylum; opinion on the future viability of the federal state; most competent party to solve future problems in Hesse; assessment of the work of Minister President Boris Rhein; preference for a government consisting of CDU and Greens or CDU and SPD; better vs. worse election result for the SPD in the state election with a top candidate other than Nancy Faeser; opinion on the intention of SPD top candidate Nancy Faeser to remain Federal Minister of the Interior in Berlin if the SPD loses the state election; Split A: Opinion on the AfD with regard to better vs. worse state policy in Hesse in the event of participation in the state government; vote for the AfD out of political conviction or as a warning to other parties; opinion on the spread of right-wing extremist ideas in the AfD (end of split A); split B: agreement with the following statements: If the Free Voters do well in Hesse, it is mainly due to the attention caused by Hubert Aiwanger and the Free Voters in Bavaria; without the problems of the Greens in the federal government, the Greens would do much better in Hesse (end of split B); importance of CDU chairman Friedrich Merz for the CDU´s performance in the state election in Hesse (helpful, rather detrimental or does not play a major role for it); Importance of the FDP´s participation in the federal government for the FDP´s performance in the state election (helpful, rather detrimental or does not play a major role); assessment of climate protection measures in Germany as going too far, just right or not far enough; Hesse can cope with many refugees from crisis areas.

Demography: sex; age (classified); school education; desired school-leaving qualification; university degree; occupation; assessment of own job security; occupational status; household size; number of people in household aged 18 and over; trade union member in household; religious denomination; frequency of church attendance; party affiliation; party identification.

Additionally coded were: questionnaire number; selection frame (landline or online); city size; weighting factor.