DOI: 10.3886/icpsr26163.v1
title: CBS News Monthly Poll, May 2008
title: Version 1

description: This poll, fielded May 30-June 3, 2008, is a part of a continuing series of
monthly surveys that solicit public opinion on the presidency and on a range of
other political and social issues.
Respondents were asked whether they approved of the way George W. Bush was handling
his job as president, whether things in the country were going in the right direction,
to rate the condition of the national economy, and what was the most important problem facing the country.
Opinions were solicited on potential 2008 presidential candidates,
how much attention respondents had been paying to the 2008 presidential election campaign, whether they voted in a Democratic or Republican
primary or caucus, which candidate they would like to see nominated as the 2008 Democratic presidential candidate, and
which candidate they would vote for if the 2008 presidential election were being held that day.
Respondents were also asked whether they would like to see Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama pick the other as their vice presidential
running mate, whether the length of the Democratic nomination race would help the Democrats in November, whether there should be a single
national primary election day, whether John McCain would continue George W. Bush's policies if elected,
and respondents opinions about the way the news media had been treating the potential 2008 presidential candidates.
A series of questions were asked about race and gender in politics, including how much of a factor a candidate's race or gender was in determining respondents' votes,
whether America was ready to vote for an African American or a woman president, whether a sufficient number of women and African Americans held high level political positions, and whether Barack Obama's and Hillary Clinton's candidacies made it easier for other African Americans
and women to run for president in the future.
Additional questions asked about Bill Clinton's involvement in Hillary Clinton's campaign, gay marriage, the Iraq War, the price of gasoline,
and personal finances.
Demographic information includes sex, age, race, education level, household income,
marital status, religious preference, frequency of religious attendance, type of
residential area (e.g., urban or rural), political party affiliation, political
philosophy, and voter registration status and participation history.
description: The data contain a weight variable (WGHT) that should be used in analyzing the data. According 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: A variation of random-digit dialing (RDD) 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). Phone numbers were dialed from RDD samples of both standard land-lines and cell phones.
description: Datasets: 
DS1: CBS News Monthly Poll, May 2008
description: Persons aged 18 and over living in households with telephones in the contiguous 48 United States.
description: computer-assisted telephone interview (CATI)The 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.Variable Q3 contains truncated value labels. Truncated value labels in the variable EDUC were corrected.To preserve respondent confidentiality, codes for the variable Q77 (Zip Code) have been replaced with blank codes.This data collection was produced by CBS News, New York, NY.