ANES 2000 Time Series Study

Résumé 0

This study is part of a time-series collection of national surveys fielded continuously since 1948. The election studies are designed to present data on Americans' social backgrounds, enduring political predispositions, social and political values, perceptions and evaluations of political groups and candidates, opinions on questions of public policy, and participation in political life. The 2000 National Election Study entailed both a pre-election interview and a post-election re-interview. A freshly drawn cross-section of the electorate was taken to yield 1,807 cases. Because the study includes a carefully designed mode experiment, the data represent two presidential studies in 2000, side by side. The core study preserves the past commitment to probability area sampling and face-to-face interviewing: 1,006 respondents were interviewed prior to the election and 694 were re-interviewed face-to-face after the election. Supporting the core study, random-digit dial sampling and telephone interviewing were used to interview by phone 803 respondents prior to the election and 862 respondents after the election. This experiment allows an examination of the differences between the two modes and provides a preview of what shifting to telephone interviewing will mean for future ANES time-series iterations. The content of the 2000 election study reflects its dual purpose as a traditional presidential election year time-series data collection and as a mode study. Many of the substantive themes included in the 2000 questionnaires are a continuation of past topics. Interest in politics and the election was examined through questions regarding interest in the political campaigns, concern about the outcome, attentiveness to the media's coverage of the campaign, and information about politics. Respondents' knowledge of candidates and the political parties was ascertained through questions evaluating the presidential candidates and their placement on various issue dimensions. Respondents' knowledge of the religious background of the major presidential and vice-presidential candidates, partisanship and evaluations of the political parties, as well as knowledge, and evaluation of the United States House of Representatives and United States Senate candidates was also ascertained. Respondents were asked about their political participation in the November general election and in other forms of electoral campaign activities, their choice for president, their choice for the United States House of Representatives, and the United States Senate, as well as their second choice for president. Respondents were also queried about President Clinton's legacy and their knowledge of former president George Bush Sr. and his administration. Additional items focused on respondents' perceptions of personal and national economic well-being, their positions on social welfare issues (including government health insurance, federal budget priorities, and the role of government in the provision of jobs and a good standard of living), campaign finance and preference for divided government, social issues (including gun control, abortion, women's roles, the rights of homosexuals, the death penalty, school vouchers, environmental policy), racial and ethnic stereotypes, affirmative action, attitudes toward immigrants, and views on the nation's most important problem. Respondents' values and political predispositions (including moral traditionalism, political efficacy, egalitarianism, humanitarianism, individualism, and trust in government), views on fairness in elections, satisfaction with democracy, and the value of voting were also assessed. Other questions addressed social altruism, social connectedness, feeling thermometers on a wide range of political figures and political groups, affinity with various social groups, and detailed demographic information and measures of religious affiliation and religiosity. Several new concepts were also addressed in the 2000 study and include measures of social trust derived from perceptions of the trustworthiness of neighbors and coworkers. Voter turnout was also investigated with expanded response categories to help respondents be more accurate in determining whether they did in fact vote in November 2000. The concept of political knowledge was addressed with new instructions encouraging respondents to take their best guess when answering the political knowledge questions. The 2000 study also incorporated a social network battery, based entirely on the perceptions of survey respondents regarding the characteristics of their identified discussants. Two brief but reliable measures of cognitive style, the need for cognition and the need to evaluate, were also included in this study. Another important feature of the 2000 ANES time-series is the mode experiment, which supplies the ability to compare interviews taken in person with interviews taken over the phone. This carefully designed mode experiment, driven by theoretical and practical interest, allows scholars to test the effects of survey mode on data quality and reliability. The 2000 study incorporates numerous experiments that examine the effects of the chosen mode: 7-point scales and branching, response order, "don't know" filters, and social desirability. Demographic variables include gender, race, employment status, and length of residency in the community.