Perspective Switzerland
Perspective Switzerland is an annual political online survey in Switzerland with the aim of involving citizens in the discussion about changes at an early stage. This is to prevent politicians from working on drafts for a long time and ultimately rejecting them by the people while the changes desired by the people are not implemented. Perspective Switzerland took place for the first time in 2004. Perspective Switzerland is backed by the association Vernunft Schweiz , which, according to its statutes, aims to improve politically neutral information for the population and to objectify political discussions.
The original idea for Swiss Perspective came from Germany. Perspective Germany claims to be the world's largest socio-political online survey in the world.
Topics and number of participants
Perspective Switzerland's topics change every year. According to the organizers, the topics are selected from the point of view of topicality and political balance.
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2004
- Number of participants: 14,000
- Topics: education, state finances, AHV / IV, state system
- Patronage: Ruth Metzler-Arnold (former Federal Councilor), Doris Leuthard (CVP President), Rolf Schweiger (former FDP President), Ueli Maurer (SVP President)
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2005
- Number of participants: 17,000
- Topics: family policy, poverty, regional policy, economic growth, equality
- Patronage: Rudolf Strahm (price supervisor), Doris Leuthard (CVP president), Fulvio Pelli (FDP president), Ueli Maurer (SVP president)
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2006
- Number of participants: 20,600
- Topics: transport, energy, health policy, labor market policy
- Patronage: Werner Marti (Nationalrat SP), Ruth Genner (President Greens), Doris Leuthard (Federal Councilor CVP), Fulvio Pelli (FDP President), Hansjörg Walter (Nationalrat SVP)
criticism
When the results of 2005 were presented, the survey was criticized for the first time in the press. The representativeness and informative value of the results was strongly questioned. The critics state that the statistical weighting method used by Perspective Switzerland is not able to solve the problems of the selection bias of an internet survey and therefore the results say nothing about the opinion of the population.
The organizers counter that the survey correctly predicted several referendums and thus confirmed the quality of the results. For example, the poll for the vote on the education constitution of May 21, 2006 predicted a result of 88% yes. 86% answered yes.