DOI: 10.3886/icpsr03744.v3
title: CBS News/New York Times Monthly Poll #2, January 2003
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, and the economy, as well as their views on
the Republican Party, the Democratic Party, and the United States
Congress. Their views were sought on which of the following issues
should receive the most congressional attention in the coming year:
passing a tax cut, reforming health care, creating jobs, fighting the
war on terror, revitalizing the economy, or dealing with the situation
in Iraq. Respondents were asked to assess their confidence in Bush's
ability to make the right decisions about the economy. Their views
were sought on the 2001 tax cuts, their understanding of and the
seriousness of the federal budget deficit, whether stockholders should
pay taxes on stock dividends, whether preserving Social Security and
Medicare was preferable to receiving a tax cut, and whether cutting
taxes or reducing the federal budget deficit would be better for the
economy. A series of questions focused on the policies of the Bush
administration, including whether these policies treated social
classes fairly, whether Bush or other people were actually running the
administration, whether Bush cared about people like the respondent,
whether the administration was influenced by big business and/or the
religious right, and whether the administration had made progress in
the following areas: improving the national economy, creating new
jobs, reducing the cost of prescription drugs for the elderly,
preserving Social Security/Medicare for future generations, and
improving public schools. Those polled were asked for their views on
affirmative action policies in hiring, promoting, and college
admissions, including whether these programs should be continued and
the importance of a racially diverse student body. Respondents were
asked to consider the global opinion of the United States and the
relationship between the United States and its European allies,
compared to two years previously. A series of questions addressed the
current situation in Iraq, with items focusing on whether the United
States had exhausted its diplomatic options, whether respondents
expected the United States to use military force, the possible
findings of the January 27, 2003, report by United Nations weapons
inspectors, possible responses to their findings, whether Iraq
possessed weapons of mass destruction, whether military force should
be used to remove Iraqi President Saddam Hussein from power, and
possible terrorist attacks in response to United States military
action. In addition, respondents were asked whether Iraq, North Korea,
or terrorist groups such as Al Qaeda posed the greatest threat to
world peace and stability. Respondents were also asked about their
opinions on the war against and the threat of terrorism. Questions
included whether the Bush administration had a clear plan, whether its
policies were making the United States less likely to be the target of
terrorist attacks, whether the United States had made progress in
eliminating the threat from terrorists operating in Afghanistan, the
likelihood of future attacks, and who was winning the war against
terrorism. Additional questions probed respondent views on abortion,
Bush administration Supreme Court nominees, whether today's youth
would have a better future than their parents, and the image of the
United States in the Arab world. Background information on respondents
includes age, gender, voter registration and participation history,
political party, political orientation, marital status, religion,
education, Hispanic descent, race, children in household, household
income, stock market investments, whether respondents receivedtaxable
dividends, and whether they intended to watch the January 28, 2003,
State of the Union Address.
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 #2, 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.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.