DOI: 10.3886/icpsr03704.v3
title: CBS News/New York Times Monthly Poll #1, September 2002
title: Version 3

description: This poll 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. Respondents were asked to give their
opinions of President George W. Bush and his handling of the
presidency, foreign policy, the economy, and the campaign against
terrorism. Views were elicited on the trustworthiness of the
government and why respondents felt that way, whether the Bush
administration had a clear plan for handling terrorism, whether the
United States should attack another country (including Iraq) before it
was attacked, whether the United States should attack another country
(including Iraq) if the United States believed that it posed a nuclear
threat, level of confidence in the United States government to protect
its citizens from terrorist attacks, the likelihood of another
terrorist attack in the next few months, and personal concern about
local acts of terrorism. Respondents were also asked about their level
of confidence in the ability of the United States to capture or kill
Osama bin Laden, whether the United States could claim victory over
terrorism if bin Laden was not captured or killed, and whether they
believed bin Laden was still alive. Additional questions sought
respondents' views on how well the war on terrorism was going, and how
much progress the Bush administration had made in closing terrorist
training camps in Afghanistan, in eliminating threats from terrorists
from other countries, placing a stable government in Afghanistan,
improving the image of the United States in the Arab world, developing
a comprehensive plan for protecting the United States from terrorism,
and improving air travel safety. Respondents were asked how concerned
they were with losing civil liberties and if they agreed or disagreed
that Americans would always have to live with terrorism. Regarding the
terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon,
respondents were asked how much they blamed the CIA, the FBI, United
States policies in the Middle East, and security at United States
airports. Respondents were asked how safe Americans felt from
terrorist attacks, how safe they felt personally, how often they
thought about and talked about September 11, whether the United States
has done all it could to make the country safe, and whether the United
States was prepared for biological and chemical attacks. With regard
to Iraq, respondents were asked whether the Bush administration had
clearly explained the possible attack on Iraq, whether they approved
or disapproved of the United States taking military action, whether
the United States should attack soon or give the United Nations more
time, whether President Bush should receive Congressional approval
before taking military action, whether they thought military action
would take place, whether the removal of Saddam Hussein from power was
worth the potential loss of American lives, whether military action
should take place if it meant substantial military casualties or Iraqi
civilian casualties, and whether respondents would favor military
action if the war lasted for several months or years. Respondents were
queried as to whether they believed that Iraq possessed weapons of
mass destruction, and that Iraq was planning to use these weapons
against the United States. In regard to the September 11 terrorist
attacks, respondents were asked how afraid they were of flying,
whether they had flown on a commercial airline since the attacks, how
likely it was that Arab Americans, Muslims, and Middle Eastern
immigrants would be singled out unfairly, whether Arab Americans were
more sympathetic to terrorists than other Americans, whether
respondents had a good or bad image of New York City, whether they had
ever visited the World Trade Center, whether they attended religious
services after the attacks and whetherthey continued to do so, how
likely they were to watch the news since the attacks, how much time
they spent with family, and how their lives and the country had
changed as a result of the terrorist attacks. In addition, respondents
were asked whether they had trouble sleeping, whether they felt
nervous or edgy after the attacks, whether their children expressed
concern over their safety and their family's safety, how often the
respondents talked to their children about September 11, whether they
knew someone who was hurt in the September 11 attacks, whether they
knew an Arab American, and whether an immediate family member was
currently serving in United States armed forces. Finally, respondents
were asked about their political party preference, whether they had
financial investments, whether they had voted in the 2000 presidential
election and for whom, their political views, marital status,
religious preference, education, age, Hispanic descent, ethnicity,
income, and whether there were additional phone lines in the home.
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/New York Times Monthly Poll #1, September 2002
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' privacy.The ASCII data file may have been replaced if the previous version was formatted with multiple records per case. A frequency file, which contains the authoritative column locations, has been added to the collection.