Version Date: May 29, 2008 View help for published
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CBS News
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https://doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR04481.v2
Version V2
This poll, fielded October 23-27, 1996, is part of a continuing series of monthly surveys that solicit 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 and his handling of the presidency and issues such as foreign policy. Several questions asked how much respondents had been paying attention to the presidential campaign, whether they were likely to vote in the election for president, which candidate they would vote for if the presidential and United States House of Representatives elections were being held that day, whether they had favorable opinions of the candidates and trusted them, and who they expected to win. Respondents were asked to rate the condition of the national economy, whether they thought trade with other countries, such as Mexico and Canada, was good for the United States economy, whether they approved of the way Bill Clinton was handling relations with Cuba, Mexico, and Canada, and the importance of these countries to the United States' interests. Several questions asked for respondents' opinions on welfare, including whether most people on welfare were immigrants or belonged to a specific ethnic group, whether respondents approved of a recent law that changed the welfare system, and whether eligibility for welfare should be limited. A series of questions asked respondents whether trade restrictions were necessary, whether they favored the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), whether it should be expanded to other Latin American countries, and how many foreign products respondents had purchased in the past few years. Respondents were asked for their opinions on immigration to the United States, including the effects of immigration on society, whether immigrants should be eligible for entitlements programs and other benefits, and the country of origin of current legal and illegal immigrants. Information was also collected on whether respondents considered themselves part of the conservative Christian movement, and Hispanic respondents were asked about their country of birth and that of their ancestors. Additional topics included abortion, affirmative action, race and gender discrimination in job hiring practices, the trade embargo against Cuba, and whether the government should be more involved in people's lives and do more to solve national problems. Demographic variables include sex, race, age, household income, education level, political party affiliation, political philosophy, voter participation history and registration status, employment status, military service, whether respondents had any children under the age of 18, household union membership, length of time living at current residence, and type of residential area (e.g., urban or rural).
Export Citation:
Stratified random digit dialing. Within households, respondents were selected using a method developed by Leslie Kish and modified by Charles Backstrom and Gerald Hursh (see Backstrom and Hursh, SURVEY RESEARCH, Evanston, IL: Northwestern University Press, 1963). The data contain an oversample of Hispanic respondents.
Adult population of the United States aged 18 and over having a telephone at home.
2008-04-30
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:
2008-05-29 The data collection instrument has been replaced with the original questionnaire used in this study.
The data contain a weight variable that should be used for analysis.
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