Euro-barometer 12: European Parliamentary Elections, October/November 1979

This round of Euro-Barometer surveys queried respondents on standard Euro-Barometer measures, such as how satisfied they were with their present life, whether they attempted to persuade others close to them to share their views on subjects they held strong opinions about, whether they discussed political matters, what their country's goals should be for the next ten years, and how they viewed the need for societal change. Additional questions focused on the respondents' knowledge of and opinions on the European Community (EC), including how well-informed they felt about the EC, what sources of information about the EC they used, whether their country had benefited from being an EC member, and the extent of their personal interest in EC matters. Another major focus of the surveys was on attitudes toward the institutions of the European Community in the wake of the European Parliamentary elections held on June 10-12, 1979. Respondents were asked how they voted in the elections. Their expectations of the elected Parliaments and of the future of the Common Market were explored by extending the set of questions that had been asked throughout the Euro-Barometer series on European integration and the respondents' political and party predispositions, as well as their interests in various political issues. Respondents were also asked about their satisfaction with their own national political systems. Standard demographic information collected includes respondents' religion, education, occupation, marital status, age and sex, as well as the occupation of the head of household and the composition of the household. In addition to the survey itself, the ICPSR version of the study contains constructed indices on materialist/post-materialist values, left-right partisan vote, European Parliament partisan vote, and cognitive mobilization index (an indicator of an individual's potential to take an active role in the political process). Euro-Barometer 10 contains data gathered from representative samples of respondents aged 15 or older interviewed in each of the nine nations of the EC (Germany, Great Britain, Denmark, Italy, France, Belgium, Luxembourg, Ireland, and the Netherlands) in October-November 1979.