DOI: 10.3886/icpsr08695.v1
title: CBS News/New York Times National Surveys, 1986
title: Version 1

description: As part of an ongoing data collection effort, a series of interviews was conducted throughout 1986 by CBS News and The New York Times. Although varying in subject matter, the surveys provide a continuing evaluation of the Reagan presidency. Part 1 contains questions on a variety of domestic and foreign policy issues including arms control, the deficit, and the homeless. Part 2 is concerned with the Challenger accident. Items include support for space programs and the effect the accident had on children. Part 3 focuses on the problems facing farmers. Part 4 is a survey of New York City residents about the state of their city government. Part 5 is primarily concerned with issues of ethics in business. Additional items include opinions on the bombing of Libya, nuclear power, and the accident at Chernobyl. Part 6 queries respondents about their opinions on the United States bombing of Libya. Part 7 concerns United States immigration policies and opinions of immigrants. Part 8 focuses on the problem of drugs. Respondents were asked about the extent of the drug problem in the United States and in a variety of settings (school and the workplace) and how the government should respond to the drug problem. Part 9 contains items concerning the 1984 and 1986 elections, the state of the United States economy, changes in tax laws and the Nicholas Daniloff affair. Part 10 surveys respondents about AIDS, their knowledge of AIDS, what they do to protect themselves, and opinions of what the governmental reponse should be to the AIDS problem. Part 11 centers on the l986 election. Respondents were asked about the likelihood of their voting, vote choices for a variety of offices, the impact of issues on their vote choice and past voting behavior. An additional series of items was asked about women in politics and trust in government. Part 12 contains questions concerning the Soviet summit in Iceland. Questions concern repondents' opinions on arms control issues and SDI or "Star Wars". Parts 13 and 14 focus on the Iran-Contra affair. These surveys include items concerning trust in government and evaluation of Reagan. Part 15 is the football survey containing items about favorite teams, officiating, and television coverage of the sport.
description: Stratified random digit dialing. Part 3 contains an oversample of farmers. Part 7 contains an oversample of Hispanic persons.
description: Datasets: DS0: Study-Level Files DS1: National: January 19-23, 1986 DS2: Challenger Accident: January 30-31, 1986 DS3: Farm: February 19-20, 1986 DS4: New York City: March 9-10, 1986 DS5: Business/Nuclear: April 29-May 1, 1986 DS6: Libya: April 15, 1986 DS7: National: June 19-23, 1986 DS8: Drugs: August 18-21, 1986 DS9: September: September 28-October 1, 1986 DS10: AIDS: October 14-16, 1986 DS11: October: October 24-28, 1986 DS12: Summit: October 14-15, 1986 DS13: Iran-Contra A: November 30, 1986 DS14: Iran-Contra B: December 7-8, 1986 DS15: Football: December 14-15, 1986
description: Adults in the United States ages 18 and over. Part 2 contains children ages 9-17, in addition to the adults. Part 4 contains New York City residents only, ages 18 and over.
description: Each dataset has a weight variable that must be used with any analyses. The data contain blanks, dashes and ampersands. In Part 2, children ages 9-17 were asked a brief set of questions concerning the Challenger accident after their parent was interviewed. Thus, one case record would contain responses to the adult questionnaire and the response of one of the children of this adult aged 9-17. This part also includes a separate weight variable for each group.