In German politics[edit]

In Germany, various interest groups sometimes send questionnaires to the campaigning political parties before federal parliament elections. These questionnaires, consisting of political survey questions the interest groups are interested in, are often called "electoral touchstones" (German: Wahlprüfsteine). Those answers of a political party which might support or threaten the political goals of an interest group are finally published by the group in order to influence the voting behavior of potential voters being in favor of the political views of the interest group.