Das Phänomen meinungs- und mehrheitsbildender Bevö lkerungsumfragen als Instrument zur Legitimierung von Interessen im politischen Raum - Sozialempirische Befragungstechnik zwischen Stimmungsmache und Erkenntnisgewinn: "Greenpeace" und "Aktionsbündnis zur Holzvermarktung in Bayern" - Zwei forsa-Umfragen mit unterschiedlichen Ergebnissen

Two organizations (Greenpeace and a marketing-coalition for the timber in Bavaria) have conflicting interests in forest management (conservation of forests versus managing forests for timber production). Both organizations entrusted the forsa institute (Society for Social Research and Statistical Analysis Ltd.) with a representative survey in each case. While the topics of the survey are hardly different, the results of the survey and the interpretation of results point in diametrically opposite directions. The article clarifies the respective issues of each survey and their different conclusions. The queries used by the forsa institute for the survey are critically discussed and conclusions are drawn. Both surveys have a number of similarities. The intended purpose of each survey is not, to analyze the public opinion towards forest management or forest protection. Instead, the constructions of the queries influence the response of the participants of the survey. Both studies generate a public opinion that will be fed into the policy discourse to impose their own vision against resistance.