DOI: 10.3886/icpsr03745.v3
title: CBS News Monthly Poll #1, February 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. A series of questions
focused on the current situation in Iraq. Topics covered whether Bush
had adequately explained the United States' position on Iraq, whether
the United States had tried hard enough to reach a diplomatic
solution, whether the removal of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein was an
appropriate use of military action, who bore the burden of proof
regarding possible Iraqi possession of weapons of mass destruction,
whether United Nations approval should be sought prior to military
action, whether sufficient evidence existed that Iraq had weapons of
mass destruction and/or ties to the terrorist group Al Qaeda, and the
respondent's familiarity with Secretary of State Colin Powell's speech
to the United Nations, explaining the United States position on
Iraq. Those polled were asked to assess the value of the space shuttle
program, including whether an appropriate amount of money was being
spent on space exploration, whether the program contributed scientific
advances that benefited everyone, and whether the United States space
program contributed to national pride. Respondent views were sought on
the use of the Internet as a dating service, including whether the
respondent or someone the respondent knew had ever used a singles Web
site, gone on a date with someone they had met on the Internet, had a
bad experience with Internet dating, or married someone they had met
on the Internet. Their views were also sought on whether Internet
dating was a good idea and whether it was a safer way to meet people
than at a bar or nightclub. Background information on respondents
includes age, gender, political party, political orientation, marital
status, religion, education, Hispanic descent, race, computer/Internet
access, whether respondents watched/listened to the January 28, 2003,
State of the Union Address, 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 Monthly Poll #1, February 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.