DOI: 10.3886/icpsr04585.v1
title: CBS News/New York Times Pre-Inauguration Poll, January 1997
title: Version 1

description: This special topic poll, fielded January 14-17, 1997, was
 undertaken to assess public opinion prior to Bill Clinton's
 second-term inauguration as President of the United States.
 Respondents gave their opinions of President Clinton and his
 handling of the presidency and issues such as foreign policy and the
 economy, as well as of Hillary Clinton and her handling of the role of
 first lady. Those polled voiced their concerns about President
 Clinton's upcoming second term in office, whether he or the
 Republicans in Congress would have more influence over the country's
 direction, whether they would be able to work together to solve issues
 such as Medicare funding and campaign finance reform, and whether
 recent scandals would interfere with the president's ability to do his
 job. Respondents rated the condition of the country, the economy, and
 their own personal lives, and identified the most important problems
 facing the nation and the United States Congress. Several questions
 addressed how much respondents trusted the federal government, whether
 hearings should be held to investigate illegal campaign contributions
 taken by the Democratic party from foreign businessmen, and whether
 people needed to take more individual responsibility to solve the
 country's problems. Views were also elicited on Vice President Al
 Gore, Republican Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich, the United States
 Congress, and the Republican and Democratic parties. Additional topics
 focused on the recently passed welfare reform bill, organized prayer
 in public schools, balancing the federal budget, the Whitewater real
 estate development project, the Paula Jones lawsuit, how often
 respondents did volunteer work, and which team they hoped would win
 the upcoming Super Bowl. Demographic variables include sex, age,
 education, race, household income, religious preference, type of
 residential area (e.g., urban or rural), political party affiliation,
 political philosophy, voter registration status, for whom the
 respondent voted in the 1996 presidential and United States House of
 Representatives elections, whether they had a child entering the ninth
 grade in the fall of 1996, and whether a teenager was living in the
household.
description: The data contain a weight variable (WEIGHT) that should be
used in analyzing the data.
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.
description: Datasets: 
DS1: CBS News/New York Times Pre-Inauguration Poll, January 1997
description: Persons aged 18 and over living in households with
telephones in the contiguous 48 United States.
description: telephone interview(1) The data and documentation for this study were
 acquired from the Roper
 Center for Public Opinion Research. (2) The data available for
 download are not weighted, and users will need to weight the data
 prior to analysis. (3) The original data file contained three records
 per case and was reformatted into a data file with one record per
case.