DOI: 10.3886/icpsr07812.v1
title: CBS News/New York Times Election Surveys, 1980
title: Version 1

description: The New York Times and CBS News were equal partners in a series of election surveys covering the 1980 election year. The content of this data collection generally concerns the presidential preference of respondents, their reasons for choosing a particular candidate, and their reactions to political and social issues of the campaign. There are 28 datasets in the collection, which fall into three categories: national monthly surveys, primary day surveys, and the election day survey. Parts 1-12 contain national monthly surveys that were conducted by telephone, with approximately 1,500 randomly selected adults in each. Surveys were conducted in January, February, March, April, June, August, September, and October. Two telephone surveys were conducted in September, a pre-debate survey and a post-debate survey. Also, two surveys were conducted in October. A post-election survey was conducted in the days following the election. For the post-election survey, the respondents in Part 11, October Pre-Election National Interviews, were reinterviewed. The post-election survey is released as a panel file and incorporates Part 11 responses as well. Parts 13-27 contain primary day surveys that were conducted in 11 states on the day of the primary at the polling place among a random sample of people who had just voted in either the Democratic or Republican presidential primaries. The questionnaires were self-administered. Surveys were conducted in the following states: New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Florida, Illinois, New York, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, California, New Jersey, and Ohio. There are separate data files for the Democratic and Republican primaries in New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Illinois, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania. Demographic information including age, sex, income, race, ethnicity, and occupation is provided for all respondents in Parts 1-27. Part 28 contains a survey conducted on the day of the presidential election. A national sample of voters was administered a questionnaire similar to those given on primary day. Selected voters were asked for whom they had voted and why. Information on time of voting and respondent's sex and race was filled out by the interviewer.
description: Parts 1-12: Random-digit dialing. Parts 13-28: Sample voting precincts were selected with a probability proportionate to the vote cast in a recent past election. Within precincts, respondents were selected on a systematic random basis.
description: Datasets: DS0: Study-Level Files DS1: January National Interviews DS2: February National Interviews DS3: March National Interviews DS4: April National Interviews DS5: June National Interviews DS6: August National Interviews DS7: September National Interviews DS8: September Pre-Debate One National Interviews DS9: September Post-Debate One National Interviews DS10: October 10th-15th National Interviews DS11: October Pre-Election National Interviews DS12: Post-Election Survey Panel DS13: New Hampshire Democratic Primary DS14: New Hampshire Republican Primary DS15: Massachusetts Democratic Primary DS16: Massachusetts Republican Primary DS17: Florida Primary DS18: Illinois Democratic Primary DS19: Illinois Republican Primary DS20: New York Democratic Primary DS21: Wisconsin Democratic Primary DS22: Wisconsin Republican Primary DS23: Pennsylvania Democratic Primary DS24: Pennsylvania Republican Primary DS25: California Primary DS26: New Jersey Primary DS27: Ohio Primary DS28: Election Day Survey DS29: Codebook for Volume I: National Surveys DS30: Codebook for Volume II: Election Day Surveys
description: Parts 1-12: Households with telephones in the United States. Parts 13-27: Voters in state primary elections in 1980. Part 28: Voters in the November presidential election of 1980.
description: (1) Only hardcopy printed codebooks are available for Parts 1 and 2. (2) The data files contains weights, which must be used in any analysis. (3) The data processing for the entire collection was carried out as a cooperative effort between the Election and Survey Unit of CBS News and ICPSR. The processing was supported by a grant from the Russell Sage Foundation.