Political attitudes and voting decisions result from the life perspectives and situations in which people live. It is of great interest for political communication to understand and take into account these different backgrounds. The diversity of life realities is great.
Lifestyle studies are one way of structuring this diversity. They make it easier to grasp the diversity and to adapt to different realities of life. Using a representative survey and a qualitative study, the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung has scientifically derived and analysed nine lifestyle types in detail:
• The unpretentious home-loving are tight on money and like to spend their time at home. They don't like change and enough is enough for them. They are not interested in politics and their favourite parties are the CDU/CSU and SPD.
• The cautious, down-to-earth people take it as it comes and are happy with it. They usually have no great ambition. Politics is not very important to them in life, but they do take note of political information when they come across it. They are cautious when it comes to evaluating parties and, like all eligible voters in the survey, are mainly divided between the CDU/CSU, SPD and Greens.
• The young open-minded people still have some way to go. They are usually at the beginning of their careers and lives and look for excitement. It is not uncommon for them to have children at home who play a major role in their everyday lives. Young open-minded people are very interested in politics and have clear ideas with an above-average preference for the Greens and the Left.
The study presents these and six other lifestyle types in detail. It offers insights into very different realities of life and focusses in particular on political interest and the evaluation of political parties.
Read the entire analysis: ‘Politik, Beruf, Alltag, Freizeit, Kaffee. Die Rolle von Politik im Leben’ here as a PDF. Please note, to date this publication is only available in German.
