i) Poor people should have a greater voice in politics. [Arme Menschen sollten in der Politik mehr Mitspracherecht haben.]

Ja

Three respondents (ID 09, 10, 11) “somewhat agree“ or “strongly agree“ with this statement, twelve respondents “somewhat disagree” or “strongly disagree” and one respondent (ID 08) “neither agrees nor disagrees”.

Those who agree with the statement argue that a) those affected, e.g. pensioners, should have a greater voice when it comes to pension reforms (ID 09), b) there should be more referendums in general so that poor people can have as much of an impact as wealthy lobbyists (ID 10), and c), that the government should concentrate more on taking into account the concerns of the poor (ID 11).

Respondent 08, who „neither agrees nor disagrees“ thought of actively holding a political office when answering the question and sees no significant difference in the access opportunities to politics between the rich and the poor: „I don’t completely understand the question. Are there differences in how easy it is for the poor and the rich to enter politics? Sure, the rich may have more opportunities just because of their better education. But other than that, I think that if someone wants to start a career in politics, in Germany, he or she can do so even without being wealthy.” (ID 08).

Those respondents who disagree with the statement explain that poor people are also often poorly educated and therefore do have the necessary knowledge to decide on political matters competently (ID 03, 12, 15). Others think that neither poverty, nor any other criterion, should lead to preferential treatment (ID 01, 02, 04, 05, 06, 07, 13, 14, 16):

• “In politics, money rules. But that doesn’t mean that people should be treated preferentially because they are poor. It’s the same as the women’s quota. Either I make it to the top through my performance or not. But not only due to my gender. It would be the same here: Simply because I don’t have money, I would be elevated. I don’t think that’s good.” (ID 04)
• “I don’t think that fits into a democracy. Everyone has the same right to cast his vote, no matter whether they are poor or rich. Of course the voice of the socially deprived isn’t heard as much, and their interests are not represented as much. But I don’t believe it is right to override democratic principles.” (ID 07)

When asked who the respondents understand to be “poor people”, most name unemployed persons as well as people who are reliant on state support, such as Hartz IV recipients (16 mentions), pensioners (6 mentions), people from poorly educated social strata (4 mentions), and the homeless (3 mentions).

In order to avoid that respondents think of a preferential treatment for the poor (i.e. a „poor people quota“) when answering this question, we recommend to modify the item:

"The interests of poor people should better be represented in politics."
[Die Interessen von armen Menschen sollten in der Politik stärker vertreten werden.“]