DOI: 10.3886/icpsr02461.v2
title: CBS News Monthly Poll #3, February 1998
title: Version 2

description: This poll is 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 to give their opinions on President Bill Clinton and his handling of the presidency, foreign policy, the economy and the situation with Iraq, Vice President Al Gore, First Lady Hillary Clinton, Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich, Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott, independent counsel Kenneth Starr, Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, Attorney General Janet Reno, the United States Congress, and their district's congressional representative. Those queried were asked what they felt was the greatest problem facing the country today, and to assess the state of the economy. A series of questions focused on the refusal by Saddam Hussein to comply with the United Nations' imposed weapons inspections. Respondents were asked whether they supported United States' military air strikes to force compliance, whether Clinton has sufficiently explained the situation to the American people, whether more time should be devoted to diplomatic efforts, and the role of British, French, and Russian support in United States decision-making regarding Iraq. Additional questions on this topic asked respondents to compare the aftermath of the 1991 Persian Gulf War to the current crisis, specifically Gulf War Syndrome and the use of biological or chemical agents, whether the United States should continue fighting until Hussein is removed from office, and the respondent's fear of possible terrorist attacks. The alleged affair between former White House intern Monica Lewinsky and President Clinton was addressed, with questions focusing on whether the two actually engaged in an affair and whether Clinton encouraged Lewinsky to lie under oath. Additional topics covered Starr's investigation, the overall importance of this scandal to the American people, media coverage and responsibility, and what should happen to Clinton if the allegations are proven true. Background information on respondents includes age, race, sex, education, ethnicity, religion, political party, political orientation, family income, marital status, employment status, voter registration and participation history, and personal and family member service in the Armed Forces.
description: ICPSR data undergo a confidentiality review and are altered when necessary to limit the risk of disclosure. ICPSR also routinely creates ready-to-go data files along with setups in the major statistical software formats as well as standard codebooks to accompany the data. In addition to these procedures, ICPSR performed the following processing steps for this data collection: Created variable labels and/or value labels..
description: Datasets: 
 
 DS1: Dataset
description: CBS News/New York Times Poll Series
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, hardcopy documentation has been converted to machine-readable form and variables have been recoded to ensure respondents' anonymity.