DOI: 10.3886/icpsr03710.v3
title: CBS News/New York Times Monthly Poll #2, October 2002
title: Version 3

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 of President George W. Bush and his handling of the
presidency, foreign policy, and the economy. In addition, respondents
were asked to give their opinions of their representatives in Congress
and the importance of these issues: the possible war in Iraq, the
economy, political affiliation, and gun control. Respondents were
asked if they believed that Democrats or Republicans had clear plans
for the United States should either party gain control of Congress,
and if they had knowledge of North Korea's development of nuclear
weapons and the possibility of military action in Iraq. Opinions on
the situation in Iraq were elicited: whether military action would and
should be taken, when military action should be taken, if the
potential loss of American lives was worth the removal of Saddam
Hussein, how they felt about the loss of Iraqi civilian lives and
long-term military engagement, and whether terrorism would increase or
decrease as a result of military action. Respondents were asked to
give opinions of both the Republican and Democratic parties,
particularly whether each party protected the interests of "ordinary"
Americans or large corporations, and which party would more likely
lead the United States to prosperity, make the right decisions
regarding Social Security, strengthen the military, deal with
terrorism, make prescription drugs affordable for the elderly, and do
a better job dealing with gun control. Respondents were then asked to
give opinions regarding terrorism: whether the Bush Administration had
a clear plan to counter it, the likelihood of another terrorist attack
within the next few months, concern for terrorism in their local area,
how well the war on terrorism was going, Americans' sense of safety,
respondents' personal sense of safety, and whether the federal
government had done all it could. Respondents were also asked about
finances: if their family's financial situation was better or worse
compared to two years ago, whether respondents invested in stock,
whether they participated in employer-sponsored 401k plans, the value
of their 401k plans, and their level of concern over the possible loss
of their job within the next year. Respondents were then asked a
variety of questions concerning their opinions on the National Rifle
Association, intake of caffeinated beverages, and voting behavior.
Respondents were asked whom they voted for president and which party
they voted for the House of Representatives, the last time they had
voted, the last time they had registered to vote, party affiliation,
and views on political matters. Background information on respondents
includes whether they owned a firearm, marital status, religion,
education, age, Hispanic descent, race, how long they had lived in
their present community, income, and additional phone lines.
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/New York Times Monthly Poll #2, October 2002
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' privacy.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.