Study title

The 1991 general election in Finland took place on March 17. In connection with the election an election study was carried out, in which respondents were interviewed both before and after the election. The pre-election interview included questions on membership in trade unions, political parties and other organizations. Habits concerning newspapers were also scrutinized, as well as the respondents exposure to news programs on radio and television. Respondents were asked about their general interest in politics, their willingness to join different activities to get influence on certain issues, as well as their participation in different political activities. For a number of statements concerning politics and political parties the respondents had to state if they agreed or disagreed, they had to place seventeen different groups in society on a scale between -50 and +50 depending on if they felt negative or positive towards them, and for a number of power holder in society they had to indicate if they had too much, too little or the right amount of power. Knowledge about current situation in the parliament was tested by questions concerning the four lagerst parties in parliament and parties forming the present government. Furthermore the respondents had to state if they had an intention to vote or not in the coming election, reasons to vote/not to vote and to give an opinion on which issues the political parties should deal with in the election campaign. Respondents intending to vote had to state which party they possibly would vote for, and the reasons why they preferred that party. For all the political parties in parliament the respondents had to give their opinion on the supposed election results. The post-election interview included questions on the election result, interest in the election campaign, general picture of the events prior to the election, and if the respondent believed that the election was influenced by international events such as the Gulf war...