DOI: 10.3886/icpsr03223.v1
title: CBS News/New York Times Florida State Poll, October 2000
title: Version 1

description: This special topic poll was designed to assess respondents'
 views on the upcoming elections. Residents of the state of Florida
 were asked to give their opinions of President Bill Clinton and his
 handling of the presidency and the situation in the Middle East, as
 well as their views on Florida governor Jeb Bush, Vice President Al
 Gore, Texas governor George W. Bush, Connecticut senator Joseph
 Lieberman, former Secretary of Defense Dick Cheney, and Florida
 senatorial candidates Bill Nelson, Bill McCollum, and Willie
 Randolph. Those queried were asked whether they intended to vote in
 the November 7, 2000, elections, and for whom they would vote if the
 presidential election were held that day, given a choice among Gore
 (Democratic Party), Bush (Republican Party), conservative commentator
 Pat Buchanan (Reform Party), and consumer advocate Ralph Nader (Green
 Party), as well as for whom they would vote if the election for United
 States senator were held that day, given a choice among Nelson
 (Democratic Party), McCollum (Republican Party), and Randolph
 (Independent Party). A series of questions addressed the presidential
 campaigns of Gore and Bush, including which candidate cared about the
 needs of people like the respondent and had spent more time explaining
 his proposals than attacking his opposition. Views on the candidates'
 proposed policies were also elicited, including which candidate was
 more likely to reduce the cost of prescription drugs for the elderly,
 reduce taxes, make health care affordable for everyone, preserve
 Social Security, and protect the environment. A series of questions
 addressed the state of the nation, with items on the direction the
 country was headed, the most important problems facing the federal
 government, the state of the United States economy, and whether the
 anticipated budget surplus should be used to reduce income taxes, pay
 down the national debt, or preserve Social Security/Medicare. Other
 questions focused on the presidential campaign, including respondents'
 interest level in the campaign, why they supported their candidate,
 who they thought would actually win the election, and the influence
 that a candidate's stance on reducing prescription drug costs for the
 elderly and preserving Social Security had on their decision-making.
 Respondents' views were also sought on the proposed plans to allow
 individuals to invest portions of their Social Security taxes in the
 stock market, the April return of Elian Gonzalez to his father in
 Cuba, the reestablishment of diplomatic trade relations with Cuba, and
 whether the fact that Jeb Bush was George W.'s brother made the
 respondent more or less likely to vote for him. Background
 information on respondents includes age, gender, political party,
 political orientation, race, Hispanic descent, marital status,
 education, voter registration and participation history, religion,
 Cuban descent, stock ownership, children in household, years in
community, and household income.
description: A variation of random-digit dialing using primary sampling
 units (PSUs) was employed, consisting of blocks of 100 telephone
 numbers identical through the eighth digit and stratified by
 geographic region, area code, and size of place. 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).
description: Datasets: 
DS1: CBS News/New York Times Florida State Poll, October 2000
description: Adult population of the state of Florida aged 18 and over
having telephones at home.
description: (1) The codebook is provided by ICPSR as a 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.