Study title

Follow-up on Finnish Municipal Elections 2004

Dataset ID Number

FSD2110

Persistent identifier

urn:nbn:fi:fsd:T-FSD2110

Data Type

Quantitative

Authors

• Moring, Tom (University of Helsinki. Swedish School of Social Science)
• TNS Gallup Finland

Abstract

The survey studied the 2004 municipal elections in Finland, focusing on election campaigning, political advertising and voting behaviour. The survey was conducted as part of the "Changes in Finnish TV Election Campaigns" project. The respondents were asked whether they had voted in the recent municipal elections. Those who had voted were asked the candidate of which political party or group they had voted for, at which point they had decided who to vote for, and whether the candidate or the party had been more important in the choice. They also rated the importance of a number of issues (e.g. environmental issues, employment, taxation, social security, public services, crime prevention) to the voting decision. In addition, voters were asked whether the public debate on outsourcing and privatising the provision of municipal services (local government services) had encouraged them to vote. Further questions covered information sources used to help them decide how to vote.

Non-voters were asked to what extent certain factors influenced their decision not to vote (e.g. difficulty to find an appropriate candidate, distrust of politics and politicians, having more important things to do on the voting day). One question explored at which point they had made the decision not to vote.

All respondents were asked whether they had noticed or seen election advertising and in what form: television, newspaper or internet adverts advertising political parties or candidates, leaflets dropped in the letterbox, outdoor posters etc. One question explored whether the respondents had seen television advertisements for certain political parties. The respondents were asked which party they would vote for if they were obliged to vote for one, and whether they had voted in the 2003 parliamentary elections, and for which party.

Background variables included, among others, the respondent's year of birth, gender, mother tongue, marital status, household composition and size, basic and vocational education, occupational status, employer type, employment sector, trade union membership, which party the respondent would vote for if the parliamentary elections were held at that time, which party had voted for in the 2000 municipal elections, left-right political self-placement, subjective social class, household annual gross income, accommodation type, housing tenure, major region (NUTS2), region (NUTS3), province of residence, type of neighbourhood.

Keywords

election campaigns; local government elections; party identification; political allegiance; political attitudes; television advertising; voting; voting behaviour

Topic Classification

• Social sciences (Fields of Science Classification)
• Public relations (CESSDA Topic Classification)
• Political behaviour and attitudes (CESSDA Topic Classification)
• Elections (CESSDA Topic Classification)

Series

Follow-ups on Finnish National and Local Elections (GallupChannel)

Distributor

Finnish Social Science Data Archive

Access

The dataset is (B) available for research, teaching and study.

Data Collector

• TNS Gallup Finland

Time Period Covered

2004

Collection Dates

2004-10 – 2004-11

Nation

Finland

Geographical Coverage

Finland

Analysis/Observation Unit Type

Individual

Universe

People aged 18 and over resident in Finland (excluding the Åland Islands)

Time Method

Longitudinal: Trend/Repeated cross-section

Sampling Procedure

Probability: Multistage

The data have been collected with the help of GallupChannel telepanel (PCs and Internet terminals in respondent households). Multistage stratified sampling.

Collection Mode

Face-to-face interview: Computer-assisted (CAPI/CAMI)

Research Instrument

Structured questionnaire

Data File Language

Downloaded data package may contain different language versions of the same files.

The data files of this dataset are available in the following languages: Finnish.

FSD translates quantitative data into English on request, free of charge. More information on ordering data translation.

Data Version

2.0

Completeness of Data and Restrictions

Part of the data was collected in the week following the elections, and the rest a week later. Thus, the dataset contains data collected on two separate time periods. The following variables have the same question wording: q1 and q13 (Did you vote in the recent municipal elections?), q2 and q14 (The candidate of which party or political group did you vote for in the recent municipal elections?), and q17_3 and q17_5 (How much information for your voting decision did you get from: television news and current affairs programmes?)

The variable identifying the respondent's municipality of residence has been removed from the data.

Weighting

There are no weight variables in the data.

Citation Requirement

The data and its creators shall be cited in all publications and presentations for which the data have been used. The bibliographic citation may be in the form suggested by the archive or in the form required by the publication.

Bibliographical Citation

Moring, Tom (University of Helsinki) & TNS Gallup Finland: Follow-up on Finnish Municipal Elections 2004 [dataset]. Version 2.0 (2018-07-18). Finnish Social Science Data Archive [distributor]. https://urn.fi/urn:nbn:fi:fsd:T-FSD2110

Deposit Requirement

Notify FSD of all publications where you have used the data by sending the citation information to user-services.fsd@tuni.fi.

Disclaimer

The original data creators and the archive bear no responsibility for any results or interpretations arising from the reuse of the data.

Related Publications

Moring, Tom (2006). Between Medialization and Tradition: Campaigning in Finland in a Longitudinal Perspective. In: Campaigning in Europe - Campaigning for Europe (ed. by Michaela Maier & Jens Techer), 81-100. Berlin: LIT Verlag.

Carlson, Tom (2017). Election Posters in Finland: Cueing Emotions with Visual Imagery. In: Holtz-Bacha, C. & Johansson, B. (eds.). Election Posters Around the Globe: Political Campaigning in the Public Space, 115-137. Cham, Switzerland: Springer International Publishing. doi:10.1007/978-3-319-32498-2_7