ANES 1992 Time Series Study

Résumé 0

This study is part of a time-series collection of national surveys fielded continuously since 1952. The election studies are designed to present data on Americans' social backgrounds, enduring political predispositions, social and political values, perceptions and evaluations of groups and candidates, opinions on questions of public policy, and participation in political life. The 1992 National Election Study entailed both a pre-election interview and a post-election reinterview. Approximately half of the 1992 cases are comprised of empaneled respondents who were first interviewed in AMERICAN NATIONAL ELECTION STUDY, 1990: POST-ELECTION SURVEY (ICPSR 9548) and later in AMERICAN NATIONAL ELECTION STUDY: 1990-1991 PANEL STUDY OF THE POLITICAL CONSEQUENCES OF WAR/1991 PILOT STUDY (ICPSR 9673). The other half of the cases are a freshly drawn cross-section sample. The panel component of the study design provides an opportunity to trace how the changing fortunes of the Bush presidency, from the high levels of approval at the start of the Gulf War through the decline after the onset of a recession, affected voting in the November 1992 presidential election. It also permits analysts to investigate the origins of the Clinton and Perot coalitions as well as changes in the public's political preferences over the two years preceding the 1992 election. In the 1990 Post-Election Survey two forms of the survey instrument were used, with about 75 percent of the content being the same on both forms. Survey questions included the now-standard National Election Studies battery of questions, along with items on presidential performance and the Persian Gulf conflict. Additionally, Form A contained questions relating to values and individualism, while Form B had content relating to foreign relations. In 1991, respondents were reinterviewed several months after hostilities in the Persian Gulf ended, and in this second wave the survey content consisted of a repeat of a subset of questions from the 1990 Post-Election Survey, along with additional items especially relevant to the Gulf War. A number of contextual variables also are provided, including summary variables that combine the respondent's recall of his or her senator's and representative's vote on the use of force with that congressperson's actual vote. The content for the 1992 Election Study reflects its dual purpose, both as the traditional presidential election year time-series data collection and as the third wave of a panel study. In addition to the standard or core content items, respondents were asked their positions on social issues such as altruism, abortion, the death penalty, prayer in the schools, the rights of homosexuals, sexual harassment, women's rights, and feminist consciousness. Other substantive themes included racial and ethnic stereotypes, opinions on school integration and affirmative action, attitudes toward immigrants (particularly Hispanics and Asians), opinions on immigration policy and bilingual education, assessments of United States foreign policy goals, and United States involvement in the Persian Gulf War. Part 2, the Nonresponse "Bias" File, designed to permit analysis of the causes and consequences of nonresponse, presents information concerning 3,690 cases that include complete or partial interviews for the Pre-/Post-Election Survey plus refusals, no-contact, and nonsample cases.