DOI: 10.3886/icpsr03742
title: CBS News State of the Union Address Poll, January 2003
title: Archival Version

description: This special topic poll, conducted January 24-28, 2003, 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. Prior to President George W. Bush's January 28, 2003, State of
the Union address, respondents were asked to give their opinions of
President Bush and his handling of the presidency, foreign policy, and
the economy. Respondents were asked to specify whether the war on
terror, the situation in Iraq, or the United States economy was most
important for the government to address, as well as their opinion of the
condition of the national economy, whether they expected their taxes to
increase, decrease, or stay the same in the next two years, and whether
taxes should be cut or the federal budget deficit reduced. Views were
sought on whether President Bush was leading the country in the right
direction, if respondents were confident in his ability to handle an
international crisis, if he had strong leadership qualities, whether he
cared about the needs and problems of people like themselves, and if he
shared the same priorities as the respondent. Respondents were also
asked if they approved of the United States taking military action
against Iraq to remove Saddam Hussein from power, even if it resulted in
substantial United States military casualties, if the situation with
Iraq would be resolved without fighting, if United States military
action against Iraq would increase the threat of terrorism, and who they
believed was currently winning the war against terrorism. Respondents
polled immediately after the State of the Union Address were asked if
George W. Bush had the same priorities they did, how his proposed tax
cuts would affect the economy, if they expected their taxes to increase
or decrease in the next two years, if they approved of the United States
taking military action against Iraq to remove Saddam Hussein, and if the
U.S. should wait or take military action soon. Background variables
include age, gender, education, religion, children in household,
ethnicity, income, marital status, political orientation, and political
party.
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 State of the Union Address Poll, January 2003
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'
anonymity.