DOI: 10.3886/icpsr03193
title: ABC News/Washington Post Poll, January 2001
title: Archival Version

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. It was fielded January 11-15, 2001, just
 prior to the end of the Bill Clinton presidency. Respondents were
 asked to give their opinions of President Bill Clinton and his
 handling of the economy, foreign affairs, race relations, the welfare
 system, crime, and the health care system. A series of questions
 focused on Clinton and his presidency, including whether Clinton was
 honest and trustworthy, possessed high personal moral and ethical
 standards, understood the problems of the American people, had kept
 the economy strong, had been a strong leader, how he would go down in
 history, whether the House of Representatives was right to impeach
 him, and whether he should be charged with a crime for giving false
 testimony in 1999 regarding his relationship with White House intern
 Monica Lewinsky. Respondents were asked which of the following issues
 should be given the highest priority by incoming president George
 W. Bush and Congress: maintaining a strong economy, protecting the
 Social Security system, holding down the costs of health care/health
 insurance, keeping the federal budget balanced, reducing the use of
 illegal drugs, reforming campaign finance laws, reducing political
 partisanship in Washington, DC, raising pay and benefits for military
 personnel, improving opportunities for women and minorities, cutting
 taxes, improving education, expanding health care coverage, helping
 the elderly pay for prescription drugs, protecting the environment,
 upgrading military systems and equipment, banning partial-birth
 abortions, establishing uniform standards for presidential elections,
 and improving race relations. A series of questions focused on the
 incoming Bush administration. Respondent views were sought on Bush's
 nomination of John Ashcroft for attorney general, Bush's nomination of
 Gale Norton for secretary of the interior, whether Bush was
 legitimately elected as president, whether Bush had a mandate to carry
 out his campaign promises, what type of president Bush would be, and
 Bush's handling of the presidential transition. Those queried were
 also asked whether they thought Bush would work for or against the
 following interest groups: labor unions, large corporations, the poor,
 the wealthy, the middle class, women's rights groups, the military,
 environmental groups, religious conservatives, Blacks or
 African-Americans, Hispanics, other racial and ethnic minorities, and
 white males. A series of questions on the economy covered whether the
 economy was headed toward a recession, respondent stock investments,
 whether stock investments were safe, whether the market would go up or
 down next year, whether changes in the stock market personally
 affected the respondent, and what type of tax cut they would
 prefer. Additional topics covered respondent views on homosexuals
 serving in the military, gun control laws, abortion, school voucher
 programs, the construction of a missile defense system, drilling for
 oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska, energy
 conservation vs. finding new energy sources, preferential treatment of
 minorities and women, tobacco companies, and mad cow
 disease. Background information on respondents includes age, gender,
 political party, political orientation, voter participation history,
 education, race, Hispanic origin, labor union membership, household
income, and whether the respondent ate beef.
description: Datasets: 
DS1: ABC News/Washington Post Poll, January 2001
description: (1) The data are provided as an SPSS portable file.
 (2) 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. (3) The codebook is provided by ICPSR as a Portable
 Document Format (PDF) file. The PDF file format was developed by Adobe
 Systems Incorporated and can be accessed using PDF reader software,
 such as the Adobe Acrobat Reader. Information on how to obtain a copy
of the Acrobat Reader is provided on the ICPSR Web site.