DOI: 10.3886/icpsr04013.v3
title: CBS News Monthly Poll, February 2004
title: Version 3

description: This poll, conducted February 2004, is part of a series of
monthly polls that solicit public opinion on political and social
issues. Views were sought on President George W. Bush and his handling
of the presidency, the economy, and foreign affairs, as well as the
2004 presidential campaign and the situation with Iraq. A series of
questions addressed whether President Bush shared the same priorities
as the respondent, whether he became a war president because of world
events or the choices he made, and whether he brought different groups
of Americans together or divided them. Respondents were asked about
the condition of the national economy, whether the country was going
in the right or wrong direction, and the effect of the Bush
administration's policies on taxes and jobs. Several questions asked
whether the result of the war with Iraq was worth the human and
economic costs, whether it was a part of or separate from the war on
terrorism, whether the United States made the correct decision in
taking military action against Iraq, and whether it made the United
States safer or less safe from terrorism. Opinions were solicited on
whether the alleged weapons of mass destruction in Iraq existed,
whether it mattered if they were found, whether the Bush
administration told the entire truth about the existence of these
weapons, and how well the Bush administration and United States
intelligence agencies assessed the threat of weapons of mass
destruction in Iraq prior to the war. Respondents were also polled on
how much attention they paid to the 2004 presidential campaign,
whether they planned to vote for President Bush or a Democratic
candidate, whether their mind was made up yet, the issue they most
wanted candidates to discuss, whether they planned to vote in a
Republican and Democratic primary or caucus, and whether the current
system of primaries and caucuses produced the best presidential
candidates. Questions regarding the Democratic presidential nomination
addressed who the party should nominate, the main reason respondents
would like to see that person nominated, whether respondents had ever
supported nominee Howard Dean, their impressions of nominee John
Kerry, and their level of satisfaction if Kerry won the nomination.
Respondents also gave their opinions of the Republican and Democratic
parties, how important it was for a president to have served in the
military, and whether a candidate's personal character and values or
position on issues was more important in their vote. Background
variables include age, sex, religion, religiosity, education,
ethnicity, household income, marital status, number of telephone lines
in household, political party affiliation, political orientation, and
voter participation and registration history.
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 Monthly Poll, February 2004
description: Adult population of the United States aged 18 and over
having a telephone at home.
description: 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, documentation has been converted to
Portable Document Format (PDF), data files have been converted to
non-platform-specific formats, and variables have been recoded to
ensure respondents' anonymity.The ASCII data file may have been replaced if the previous version was formatted with multiple records per case. A frequency file, which contains the authoritative column locations, has been added to the collection.