DOI: 10.3886/icpsr04486
title: CBS News State of the Union Poll and Call-Back Poll, January 1997
title: Archival Version

description: This special topic poll, fielded January 30-February 1 and
 February 4, 1997, solicited public opinion prior to and immediately
 following President Bill Clinton's February 4, 1997, State of the
 Union address. Respondents were polled prior to the speech and gave
 their opinions of President Clinton and his handling of the
 presidency, as well as of Vice President Al Gore, First Lady Hillary
 Clinton, Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott, Republican Speaker of the
 House Newt Gingrich, and the United States Congress, and identified
 the most important issues Congress should focus on in the upcoming
 year. Those polled were asked about the likelihood that they would
 watch the State of the Union address, the one issue they would like
 the president to talk about, the condition of the national economy,
 whether President Clinton or the Republicans in Congress had more
 influence over the direction of the country, and which one should have
 more influence over the next two years. Views were also elicited on
 whether government could have a positive impact on people's lives and
 whether government, businesses, or individuals should be most
 responsible for solving the nation's problems. Other questions
 addressed meetings with major campaign contributors at the White
 House, the effect of scandals on President Clinton's second term in
 office, campaign finance reform, welfare recipients, balancing the
 federal budget, and the future of the Social Security and Medicare
 systems. Additional topics focused on the personal and medicinal use
 of marijuana, marital satisfaction, dating, impulse buying, credit
 cards, race relations, and the O.J. Simpson criminal and civil trials.
 A call-back poll conducted immediately following the February 4, 1997,
 State of the Union address asked respondents whether they had watched
 or listened to it that evening, their opinions of the O.J. Simpson
 civil trial verdict released earlier that day, and whether presidents
 can improve race relations. Demographic variables include sex, age,
 race, education level, marital status, household income, type of
 residential area (e.g., urban or rural), voter registration status,
 political party affiliation, political philosophy, for whom
 respondents voted in the 1996 presidential election, whether they had
 a child who entered ninth grade in September 1996, and whether
children and teenagers lived in the household.
description: The data contain weight variables that should be used in
analyzing the data.
description: Households were selected by random-digit dialing. Within
 households, the respondent selected was the adult living in the
 household who last had a birthday and who was home at the time of the
interview.
description: Datasets: 
DS1: CBS News State of the Union Poll and Call-Back Poll, January 1997
description: Persons aged 18 and over living in households with
telephones in the contiguous 48 United States.
description: telephone interview(1) The data and documentation for this study were
 acquired from the Roper
 Center for Public Opinion Research. (2) The data available for
 download are not weighted and users will need to weight the data prior
 to analysis. (3) Variables R1-R6 refer to the call-back poll fielded
 February 4, 1997. (4) The variable AREACODE was recoded for
 confidentiality. The previously blanked variables EXCHANGE, LASTFOUR,
 and NAME were also recoded to appropriate-width 9 series. (5) The
 original data file contained three records per case and was
reformatted into a data file with one record per case.