While it is generally admitted that governments in most democracies make extensive use of public opinion research, we do not know much about the way they mobilize this resource. What kind of topics are covered by government polls? Why do some issues emerge at the expense of others? And what does this tell us about the way political representation works? We present evidence from Germany, mobilizing a new and original database of all survey questions directly commissioned by the German federal government during the 18th and 19th legislative periods (2013 - 2021). All survey questions were coded thematically by human coders according to the Comparative Policy Agendas (CAP) scheme. Our results underline the influence of issue salience on government polling as well as its reinforced impact depending on the moment in the electoral cycle. During their first year in office, governments' choice of issues upon which to conduct polls largely corresponds to the issues covered by their program but these subsequently become less significant to the benefit of salient issues. Overall, these results contribute to a better understanding of the role of citizens' preferences in the global agenda-setting process and offer a unique lens into the role of government polling in the representation process.< Leer menos