Washington Post Poll, October 1995 (ICPSR 6681)

Version Date: May 20, 1998

Principal Investigator(s):
The Washington Post

Series:

https://doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR06681.v1

Version V1

These data are unavailable indefinitely from ICPSR.

Slide tabs to view more

Summary

This poll solicited public opinion on the presidency and on a range of other political and social issues. Respondents were asked to give their opinions of President Bill Clinton, Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich, and retired General Colin Powell. Those queried were asked whether the president, congressional Democrats, or congressional Republicans were most committed to the following: the economy, the needs of the middle class, protecting Social Security, reducing the deficit, handling crime, welfare reform, Medicare preservation, maintenance of military strength, education, and reform of the tax system. The 1996 presidential and congressional elections were addressed as well as the upcoming Republican primaries. Respondents were asked to identify the goals and characteristics of the Democratic and Republican parties, and to comment on the possible existence of a third political party, such as Ross Perot's "United We Stand" party. The characteristics of an effective president were addressed, and respondents were asked to identify which of the following leadership qualities were most important: being respected by foreign leaders, working well with members of opposing political parties, ability to unite the races, ability to set a moral example for the country, and experience in elected office. Finally, respondents were given a list of past and present political figures and were asked to rate their leadership qualities. The list included Harry Truman, Bob Dole, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Jesse Jackson, Dwight Eisenhower, Richard Nixon, George Washington, and others. Demographic variables include age, race, sex, education, religion, family income, political party, political orientation, and voter registration and participation history.

Citation

The Washington Post. Washington Post Poll, October 1995. [distributor], 1998-05-20. https://doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR06681.v1

Export Citation:

  • RIS (generic format for RefWorks, EndNote, etc.)
  • EndNote

Subject Terms

Geographic Coverage

Hide

Time Period(s)

1995-10

Date of Collection

1995-10

Data Collection Notes

  1. (1) This collection has not been processed by ICPSR staff. ICPSR is distributing the data and documentation for this collection in essentially the same form in which they were received. When appropriate, hardcopy documentation has been converted to machine-readable form and variables have been recoded to ensure respondents' anonymity. (2) The codebook is provided as a Portable Document Format (PDF) file. The PDF file format was developed by Adobe Systems Incorporated and can be accessed using PDF reader software, such as the Adobe Acrobat Reader. Information on how to obtain a copy of the Acrobat Reader is provided on the ICPSR Web site. (3) A weight variable with two implied decimal places has been included and must be used in any analysis.

Hide

Sample

Households were selected by random-digit dialing. Within households, the respondent selected was the adult living in the household who last had a birthday and who was at home at the time of the interview.

Universe

Adults 18 years old and older in the United States.

Data Source

telephone interviews

Data Type(s)

Hide

Original Release Date

1998-05-20

Version History

2018-02-15 The citation of this study may have changed due to the new version control system that has been implemented. The previous citation was:

  • The Washington Post. WASHINGTON POST POLL, OCTOBER 1995. ICPSR version. Radnor, PA: Chilton Research Services [producer], 1995. Ann Arbor, MI: Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research [distributor], 1998. http://doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR06681.v1

Hide