DOI: 10.3886/icpsr04659.v1
title: ABC News/Washington Post Poll #1, April 2006
title: Version 1

description: This poll, conducted April 6-9, 2006, is part of a
 continuing series of monthly surveys that solicit public opinion on
 the current presidency and on a range of other political and social
 issues. A national sample of 1,229 adults was surveyed, including an
 oversample of 27 Black respondents and 202 respondents aged 65 and
 older. Part 1 contains data on non-oversample respondents and Black
 oversample respondents, while Part 2 contains information asked only
 of respondents aged 65 and older, including the aged 65 and older
 oversample. Respondents were queried on whether they approved of the
 way President George W. Bush was handling the presidency, and issues
 such as the economy and the campaign against terrorism. Respondents
 were also asked whether they approved of the way the United States
 Congress and their own representatives were handling their jobs,
 whether they would vote for a Democratic or Republican candidate in
 the upcoming United States House of Representatives election, the
 importance of issues such as health care in their voting choice, and
 which party they trusted to handle the main problems the nation would
 face over the next few years. Views were also sought on the war in
 Iraq, whether United States military forces in Iraq should be
 withdrawn, and whether Iraq was currently in a state of civil war. A
 series of questions asked how much respondents knew about the new
 Medicare prescription drug program, whether they approved of it, and
 who was responsible for its creation. Respondents aged 65 and older
 were asked whether they took prescription drugs, whether they had
 signed up for the new Medicare prescription drug program, whether it
 saved them money, and whether the enrollment deadline should be
 extended. Other topics addressed the recent increase in gasoline
 prices, illegal immigration, government waste, a new Massachusetts law
 requiring all residents to have health insurance, and whether Congress
 should officially reprimand or impeach President Bush for authorizing
 wiretaps on suspected terrorists without court approval. Demographic
 variables include sex, age, race, household income, marital status,
 education level, political party affiliation, political philosophy,
 voter registration status, religious preference, whether respondents
 considered themselves born-again or evangelical Christians, and
whether they and their parents were born in the United States.
description: The data contain weight variables that should be applied
 prior to performing any analysis. The weight variable WEIGHT should be
 used when analyzing the data in part 1, while the weight variable
 SENWGT should be applied when analyzing the data in part 2. The
 variable WEIGHT was derived using demographic information from the
 Census to adjust for sampling and nonsampling deviations from
 population values. Respondents customarily were classified into one of
 48 cells based on age, race, sex, and education. Weights were assigned
 so the proportion in each of these 48 cells matched the actual
 population proportion according to the Census Bureau's most recent
 Current Population Survey. The weight variable SENWGT was derived
 using the sex, race and education of the aged 65 and older
population.
description: 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 home at the time of the
 interview. Black respondents and respondents aged 65 and older were
oversampled.
description: Datasets: 
DS0: Study-Level Files
DS1: Full Dataset Including Black Oversample
DS2: Aged 65 and Older Oversample
description: Persons aged 18 and over living in households with
telephones in the contiguous 48 United States.
description: telephone interview(1) The data available for download are not weighted
 and users will need to weight the data prior to analysis. (2) Original
 reports using these data may be found via the
 ABC News Polling Unit
 Web site and
 
 Washington Post Opinion Surveys and Polls Web site. (3) This poll
 includes an oversample of 27 Black respondents and 202 respondents
 aged 65 and older, as identified in the SAMPTYPE variable. Black
 respondents were asked all questions, whereas respondents in the aged
 65 and older oversample were limited to demographic questions and
 questions corresponding to variables Q22 through Q37. The data
 collection instrument also indicates which questions were asked of
 oversample respondents. (4) Respondents aged 65 and older in part 1
 also appear in part 2 and can be matched using the RESPNO variable.
 (5) System-missing values were recoded to -1. (6) The FIPS and ZIP
 variables were recoded for confidentiality. (7) According to the data
 collection instrument, code 3 in the variable Q909 also included
 respondents who answered that they had attended a technical school.
 (8) The variables PCTBLACK, PCTASIAN, PCTHISP, CONGDIST, and BLOCKCNT
 were converted from character variables to numeric. (9) Several codes
 in the variable CBSA contain diacritical marks. (10) Value labels for
 unknown/missing codes were added in the MSA, METRODIV, CSA, and
 SAMPTYPE variables. (11) The CASEID variable was created for use with
online analysis.