DOI: 10.3886/icpsr04326.v1
title: ABC News/Washington Post Monthly Poll, April 2005
title: Version 1

description: This poll, conducted April 21-24, 2005, is part of a
 continuing series of monthly surveys that solicit public opinion on
 the current presidency and on a range of other political and social
 issues. Respondents were queried on such topics as Social Security
 benefits, parenthood, young people joining the military, capital
 punishment, same-sex marriage, stem cell research, and whether
 abortion should be legal in all cases. Respondents were asked how
 President George W. Bush was handling his presidency, the economy, the
 situation in Iraq, and the United States campaign against terrorism. A
 series of questions also focused on Tom Delay, the majority leader of
 the United States House of Representatives, and the ethics charges
 made against him, and whether he should step down as majority
 leader.
 A random national sample of 1,082 adults were given this poll,
 including an oversample of 284 Catholic respondents, who were asked an
 additional group of questions about Pope Benedict XVI and the Catholic
 Church. Questions asked included their feelings about the selection of
 Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger as pope, whether they approved or
 disapproved of the selection, if they thought he should maintain the
 traditional policies of the Church, and what should be his highest
 priority (e.g., responding to the concerns of women in the Church,
 encouraging human rights, or addressing the issue of sexual abuse by
 priests). Other questions included whether the Roman Catholic Church
 was in touch with the views of Catholics in America, whether the
 respondent would want their son to become a priest, and whether they
 would support the Catholic Church denying communion to Catholic
 politicians who are in favor of legal abortion.
 Demographic variables include race, gender, age, level of
 education, income, political party affiliation, political philosophy,
and religious affiliation.
description: The data contain two weight variables that should be
 applied prior to performing any analysis. The random digital dialing
 (RDD) weight (variable RDDWT) was derived using demographic
 information from the Census to adjust for sampling and nonsampling
 deviations from population values. Respondents customarily were
 classified into one of 48 cells based on age, race, sex, and
 education. The RDD weights were assigned so the proportion in each of
 these 48 cells matched the actual population proportion according to
 the Census Bureau's most recent Current Population Survey.
 A total of 1,082 respondents were surveyed, including an oversample
 of 284 Catholic respondents, who were also asked approximately twenty
 additional questions. The second weight variable, OSWGT (oversample
 weight), should be applied when analyzing the responses to these
 questions. Otherwise, use the RDDWT variable. A complete list of the
 variables corresponding to the questions asked only of the Catholic
oversample can be found in the appendix of the codebook.
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: ABC News/Washington Post Monthly Poll, April 2005
description: Persons aged 18 and over living in households with
telephones in the contiguous 48 United States.
description: telephone interview(1) The data available for download are not weighted
 and users will need to weight the data prior to analysis. (2)
 Additional information about sampling, interviewing, and sampling
 error may be found in the codebook. (3) A complete list of the
 variables corresponding to questions asked only of the Catholic
 oversample can be found in the appendix of the codebook. The
 questionnaire also indicates which questions were asked of the
 Catholic respondents. (4) Original reports using these data may be
 found via the ABC News
 Polling Unit Web site and via the
 Washington
Post Opinion Surveys and Polls Web site.