DOI: 10.3886/icpsr26950.v1
title: CBS News/New York Times Monthly Poll, June 2009
title: Version 1

description: This poll, fielded June 12-16, 2009, is a 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 whether they approved of the way Barack Obama was handling the presidency and issues such as the economy and the federal budget deficit. Opinions were solicited about the most important problem facing the country, whether the country was moving in the right direction, the condition of the national economy, and the Republican and Democratic parties. Respondents were asked about their level of satisfaction with the quality and cost of health care in the United States, whether it was the responsibility of the federal government to guarantee health insurance for all Americans, whether the federal government or private insurance companies would do a better job providing coverage and holding down health care costs, and the possible effects of universal health care. Views were sought on health care reform proposals, such as requiring all Americans to purchase health insurance, taxing employer-paid health insurance benefits to pay for those who were uninsured, and requiring health insurance companies to provide coverage regardless of pre-existing medical conditions. Information was collected on the financial situation of the respondent's household, whether they had health insurance coverage, the source of their insurance coverage, and the affordability of basic medical care under their current health insurance plan. Additional topics addressed Roe versus Wade, the 1973 Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion in the United States, gay marriage, affirmation action programs for minorities and low-income individuals, the Supreme Court and the nomination of federal appeals court Judge Sonia Sotomayor, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, television political commentators, and the possible closure of the United States military prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Demographic variables include sex, age, race, education level, marital status, household income, employment status, perceived social class, political party affiliation, political philosophy, voter registration status and participation history, religious preference, the presence of adults between the ages of 18 and 29 in the household, whether respondents had children under the age of 18 years, and whether they considered themselves to be a born-again Christian.
description: The data contain weight variables that should be used in analyzing the data. According to the CBS News Web site, the data were weighted to match United States Census Bureau breakdowns on age, sex, race, education, and region of the country. The data were also adjusted for the fact that people who share a telephone with others have less chance to be contacted than people who live alone and have their own telephones, and that households with more than one telephone number have more chances to be called than households with only one telephone number.
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. Phone numbers were dialed from RDD samples of both standard land-lines and cell phones. 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, June 2009
description: Persons aged 18 and over living in households with telephones in the United States.
description: telephone interviewThe data available for download are not weighted and users will need to weight the data prior to analysis.The CASEID variable was reformatted in order to make it a unique identifier.Information in the variables PHN1, AREA, and PRFX were blanked to protect respondent confidentiality.Truncated value labels in variables EDUC and Q3 were corrected.This data collection was produced by CBS News, New York, NY.