DOI: 10.3886/icpsr26830
title: CBS News Monthly Poll and Call-Back Poll, November 2008
title: Archival Version

description: This special topic poll is part of a continuing series of monthly surveys that solicits public opinion on the presidency and on a range of other political and social issues. This data collection polled respondents on their opinions before and after the 2008 presidential election held on November 4, 2008. In the original poll, fielded October 30-November 3, 2008, respondents were asked whether they approved of the way George W. Bush was handling the presidency, whether their family was financially better off compared to four years ago, and whether a person's race affected their chances of getting ahead in today's society. Those who were registered to vote were asked about how much attention they were paying to the 2008 presidential campaign, their opinions of the presidential and vice-presidential candidates, whether they had voted in a Democratic or Republican primary or caucus that year, the likelihood that they would vote in the general election and for whom, and whether they planned to vote in person on election day, by mail or absentee ballot, or at an early voting location. Other questions addressed respondent's willingness to participate in an exit poll or post-election telephone survey. After the election, 1,220 adults were re-interviewed in a call-back poll conducted November 7-10, 2008. Respondents who had voted were asked who they had voted for, when they had finally decided on a candidate, the main reason they chose that candidate, which voting method they used, how long they had waited in line to vote, and whether they were contacted by a presidential campaign. Those who did not vote were asked about the main reason they did not vote. All respondents in the call-back poll were asked whether progress had been made against racial discrimination since the 1960s, whether they were pleased with the outcome of the election, and their views on the upcoming Obama presidency. Demographic variables include sex, age, race, education level, marital status, household income, political party affiliation, political philosophy, voter registration status and participation history, length of time at current residence, military service, religious preference, and whether respondents considered themselves to be a born-again Christian.
description: The data contain weight variables that should be used in analyzing the data. According to the CBS News Web site, the data were weighted to match United States Census Bureau breakdowns on age, sex, race, education, and region of the country. The data were also adjusted for the fact that people who share a telephone with others have less chance to be contacted than people who live alone and have their own telephones, and that households with more than one telephone number have more chances to be called than households with only one telephone number.
description: The call-back poll re-interviewed respondents who had participated in a poll fielded October 30-November 3, 2008. In the original poll, 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. Phone numbers were dialed from RDD samples of both standard land-lines and cell phones. 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 and Call-Back Poll, November 2008
description: Persons aged 18 and over living in households with telephones in the United States.
description: telephone interviewThe data available for download are not weighted and users will need to weight the data prior to analysis.The CASEID variable was reformatted in order to make it a unique identifier.This data collection includes responses to questions from the original poll as well as to the call-back poll. Original survey questions are identified with the prefix "Q", while call-back questions are identified as "RQ".Responses in the variable Q103 (ZIP Code) were blanked to protect respondent confidentiality.A truncated value label in variable EDUC was corrected.This data collection was produced by CBS News, New York, NY.