DOI: 10.3886/icpsr03219.v1
title: CBS News/New York Times New Jersey State Poll, October 2000
title: Version 1

description: This poll, conducted October 12-15, 2000, is part of a
 continuing series of surveys that solicit public opinion on the
 presidency and on a range of other political and social issues. The
 study was conducted in part to assess respondents' interest in and
 opinions about the 2000 election campaign for United States senator
 from New Jersey. New Jersey residents gave their opinions of
 candidates Jon Corzine (Democrat) and Bob Franks (Republican), as well
 as their opinions of President Clinton, New Jersey governor Christie
 Whitman, New Jersey senator Robert Torricelli, New Jersey state
 senator Donald DiFrancesco, New Jersey gubernatorial candidates Jim
 McGreevey (Democrat) and Bret Schundler (Republican), and candidates
 for president and vice president, Al Gore and Joe Lieberman
 (Democrats), and George W. Bush and Dick Cheney
 (Republicans). Respondents were also queried about their readiness to
 vote in the upcoming Senate election, whom were they going to vote
 for, and who, in their opinion, would become state
 senator. Respondents answered a set of questions comparing Corzine and
 Franks as Senate candidates in terms of their experience, interest in
 people like themselves, and political philosophy, as well as who would
 do more to improve education and make health care affordable for
 everyone. The survey also sought respondents' opinions on the use of
 the federal budget surplus, the role of the federal government in
 local education policy, the role of the federal government in ensuring
 access to affordable health care, and whether it would be preferable
 to have a smaller government providing fewer services or a larger
 government providing more services. Respondents' views were elicited
 on whether limits should be placed on the amount of their own money
 candidates can spend on their campaigns, whether candidates' use of
 funds from political action committees was problematic, the amount of
 his own money Corzine was spending on his campaign, and whether the
 fact that Corzine was spending $1 million each week on his campaign
 made respondents more or less likely to vote for him. Respondents were
 queried as to whether they had seen any Corzine or Franks campaign
 commercials on TV, whether they had watched any debates between
 Corzine and Franks, whether they had received any Corzine or Franks
 campaign literature through the mail, and whether that information had
 influenced their electoral decision. Respondents were also asked for
 whom they intended to vote in the upcoming presidential election: Al
 Gore (Democratic Party candidate), George W. Bush (Republican Party
 candidate), Pat Buchanan (Reform Party candidate), or Ralph Nader
 (Green Party candidate). Additional questions probed respondents'
 views on issues such as abortion, requiring all gun owners to register
 their firearms, the appropriate criminal punishment for murder, and
 the most important factor in deciding how they would vote in the New
 Jersey senate election. Background information on respondents includes
 age, gender, political party, political orientation, marital status,
 education, children in household, voter registration and participation
 history, Hispanic descent, race, years in community, gun ownership,
and household income.
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 New Jersey State Poll, October 2000
description: Adult population of the state of New Jersey aged 18 and
over having telephones at home.
description: The codebook is provided by ICPSR as a Portable
 Document Format (PDF) file. The PDF file format was developed by Adobe
 Systems Incorporated and can be accessed using PDF reader software,
 such as the Adobe Acrobat Reader. Information on how to obtain a copy
of the Acrobat Reader is provided on the ICPSR Web site.