The Finnish Voter Barometer surveys are commissioned by the major parties in the Parliament. In election years, other sponsors have also been involved. Up till 1988, the surveys were planned by Gallup Finland (TNS Gallup Ltd) and the Department of Political Science at the University of Helsinki, in collaboration with the political parties. After 1988, the planning has been in the hands of Gallup Finland and the parties.
From 1973 to 1990, the annual voter barometers were collected mainly with face-to-face interviews using structured questionnaires, 1000-2000 interviews/barometer. Since 1991, the data have been collected with GallupChannel (PC's installed in respondents' homes). No surveys were conducted in 1985 and 1989.
Survey themes include voting behaviour, opinions on the government and the parties, and attitudes towards national political issues. In addition, respondents' economic expectations and political participation have often been studied, as well as their opinions on local politics, and the significance of the party leader to a party. Background variables have often included the social class of the respondent and the household head, economic activity of the household head, respondent's education, age, mother tongue, gender, party membership, political views, trade union membership, and family's annual income. There are also regional variables. Even though the variables are not always fully comparable from one survey to another, all kinds of comparisons over time are possible. The FSD collections cover data from 1973.
In the survey, the Finns' attitudes towards the various political parties were under observation. The respondents were asked how favourably or negatively they view the Centre Party of Finland, the Finnish Social Democratic Party, the National Coalition Party, the Left Alliance, and the Green League. In addition, a host of attributes were listed, and the respondents were asked to which party they could be applied. The respondents were also asked how well or badly the government has succeeded in its tasks, and what party they would like to see to win the parliamentary elections. Voting behaviour was studied by asking what party or group they would vote for if the elections were held now, what would be the second best choice, and for whom did they vote in the 1995 parliamentary elections and in the 1996 municipal elections. The respondents were also asked which is more important, the party or the candidate, when making the voting decision in the forthcoming parliamentary elections of March 1999, whether they were going to vote in advance or on the election day, and how sure they were of their choice. In addition, the respondents were asked whether they took care of buying groceries or cooking in the household.
Background variables included the respondent's year of birth, marital status, annual income before taxes, place of residence, professional group, field of activities, membership in a trade union, and mother tongue.
The information has been gathered through GallupChannel with personal computers and Internet terminals installed in people's homes. The sample has been carried out as a multistage stratified sample resulting in a fixed sample.