DOI: 10.3886/icpsr03918.v3
title: CBS News Monthly Poll #2, August 2003
title: Version 3

description: This poll, conducted August 26-28, 2003, is part of a
continuing series of monthly polls that solicit opinions on political
and social issues. Views were gathered on the 2004 presidential
election, as well as President George W. Bush and his handling of the
presidency, foreign policy, and the economy. Respondents were asked
about the condition of the economy and whether it was better, worse, or
the same as when George W. Bush first took office, how concerned
respondents were that a member of their household would lose his or her
job in the next year, and the degree of progress made by the Bush
Administration in making the United States safe from terrorism,
improving the economy, reducing taxes, creating new jobs, and improving
the environment. A series of questions addressed whether the war with
Iraq was worth it, if the number of troops in Iraq should be increased,
decreased, or maintained, whether the Bush Administration told the
entire truth, the success of United States efforts to bring order and
stability to Iraq, and whether the United States or the United Nations
should be responsible for Iraq's new government. Additional questions
asked if respondents believed that the threat of terrorism increased,
decreased, or stayed the same as a result of United States military
action against Iraq, how concerned they were about the loss of civil
liberties as a result of the measures enacted by the Bush
Administration, whether government warnings about possible terrorist
attacks on Americans were useful or harmful, and the likelihood of
another terrorist attack in the United States in the next few months.
Respondents were queried on how much attention they paid to the 2004
presidential campaign, whether they would vote to re-elect George W.
Bush, whether George W. Bush or a Democratic nominee would likely win
the election in 2004, whether foreign policy or domestic issues mattered
more in deciding who to vote for, whether candidates should spend more
time talking to voters or explaining their positions, and what one issue
candidates should discuss. Respondents were asked for their opinions of
Democratic presidential nominees John Kerry, Joe Lieberman, John
Edwards, Howard Dean, and Dick Gephardt, who the Democratic Party should
nominate as its candidate, whether this candidate should be liberal,
moderate, or conservative, which Democratic presidential candidate had
the best chance of winning, whether the respondent was satisfied with
the Democratic nominees, and the likelihood that the respondent would
vote in a Democratic or Republican presidential primary or caucus.
Specific questions addressed whether respondents preferred a Democratic
presidential candidate who would support the war in Iraq or oppose it,
seek common ground with George W. Bush or challenge him, support gun
control or oppose it, and eliminate recent federal tax cuts or keep them
in place. Background variables include age, sex, ethnicity, marital
status, religion, education, household income, political orientation,
political ideology, if the respondent was registered to vote, if the
respondent voted in the 2000 presidential election, and if so, for whom
(Democrat Al Gore, Republican George W. Bush, Reform Party candidate Pat
Buchanan, or Green Party candidate Ralph Nader).
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 #2, August 2003
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.