DOI: 10.3886/icpsr04509
title: CBS News Monthly Poll #2, March 1996
title: Archival Version

description: This poll, conducted March 27-28, 1996, 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. This survey also includes an oversample of African American respondents who participated in the March 20-21, 1996 cohort CBS NEWS MONTHLY POLL #1, MARCH 1996 (ICPSR 4508). Respondents of this poll were asked to give their opinions about President Bill Clinton and his handling of the presidency. Respondents were also asked to give their opinions on various social issues such as whether full equality for African Americans would be obtained in their lifetime, whether full racial integration was favored, the condition of race relations in the United States, and the degree of change that had occurred regarding the position of African Americans as a whole. A series of questions solicited respondents' opinions about the Million Man March that took place in Washington DC in October of 1995. These questions addressed whether the Million Man March was a good idea and whether it had a major influence in the African American community. Respondents were asked to give their opinions of several Black leaders such as Colin Powell, Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X, Louis Farrakhan, and Jesse Jackson. A series of questions were also posed regarding Louis Farrakhan and included questions that addressed whether the views of Louis Farrakhan and the Nation of Islam reflected those of African Americans, whether Farrakhan was a positive force in the African American community, whether Farrakhan was prejudiced against White and Jewish people, whether respondents approved of Farrakhan's trip overseas, and whether respondents approved of the meeting Farrakhan had with Iraqi leader Saddham Hussein. Demographic variables include sex, race, age, household income, education level, type of residential area (e.g. urban or rural), political party affiliation, political party philosophy, and religious preference.
description: The data contains a weight variable (WEIGHT) that should be used for analysis.
description: Stratified random digit dialing. 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). This poll also includes a subset of 113 African American respondents who participated in the CBS NEWS MONTHLY POLL #1, MARCH 1996 (ICPSR 4508).
description: Datasets: 
DS1: CBS News Monthly Poll #2, March 1996
description: Adult population of the United States aged 18 and over having a telephone at home.
description: telephone interview(1) The data available for download are not weighted, and users will need to weight the data prior to analysis. (2) The data and documentation for this study were acquired from the Roper Center for Public Opinion Research. (3) The variables AREACODE and EXCHANGE were recoded for confidentiality. (4) The original data file contained three records per case and was reformatted into a data file with one record per case. (5) ICPSR created a unique sequential record identifier variable named CASEID. (6) This poll consists of a survey of national adults as well as an oversample of 113 African American respondents who participated in the CBS NEWS MONTHLY POLL #1, MARCH 1996 (ICPSR 4508). Variable R1 in this poll corresponds to variable Q1 in the cohort study.