POLI 300STUDENT POLITICAL ATTITUDES SURVEY

FALL 2010(with comparisons to recent semesters)

Note 1: Almost all questions are taken or adapted from the

American National Elections Study

Note 2: (9) = Missing Data [Blank]

Q1. Party Identification

Generally speaking, do you think of yourself as a Republican, a Democrat, an Independent, or what?

F10 SP&F09

21 (1) Democrat 35

11 (2) Independent 20

15 (3) Republican 6

1 (4) Other; minor party 5

2 (5) Don't know 0

0 (9) [Missing Data] 1

Q2. Party ID Follow-up

• Question 2

F10 SP&F09

24 (1) 32

17 (2) 27

5 (3) 3

4 (9) 5

Q2. Party ID Follow-up[If Q1 = 1] Would you call yourself a strong Democrat or a not very

strong Democrat?(1) Strong Democrat (SD)(2) Not very strong Democrat (WD – Weak Democrat)

[If Q1 = 2] Do you think of yourself as closer to the Democratic Party or the Republican Party?

(1) Closer to Democratic Party (DL – Democratic Leaner) (2) Closer to Republican Party (RL – Republican Leaner)

(3) Neither (I – Pure Independent)

[If Q1 = 3] Would you call yourself a strong Republican or a not very strong Republican?

(1) Strong Republican (SR)(2) Not very strong Republican (WR – Weak

Republicans)

Party ID – Seven-Point Scale (Q1 + Q2)

Party ID – Seven-Point Scale

F10 SP&F0913 (1) Strong Democrat 19

8 (2) Weak Democrat 16

9 (3) Democratic Leaner 14

0 (4) Pure Independent 0

2 (5) Republican Leaner 6

7 (6) Weak Republican 5

4 (7) Strong Republican 1

7 (9) Other, DK, inconsistent 6

Party ID – Seven-Point Scale Recodedinto Direction Only

Party ID – Seven-Point Scale Recoded

F10 SP&F09

30 (1) Democrat 49

0 (2) Pure Independent 0

13 (3) Republican 12

7 (9) Other, DK, or inconsistent 6

Q3. Recalled Father’s Party ID

To the best of your knowledge, does (or did) your father generally think of himself as a Republican, a Democrat, an Independent, or what?

F10 SP&F09 20 (1) Democrat 36 2 (2) Independent 6 20 (3) Republican 12

0 (4) Other; minor party 0 8 (5) Don't know; not applicable 13

Q4. Recalled Mother’s Party ID

To the best of your knowledge, does (or did) your mother generally think of herself as a Republican, a Democrat, an Independent, or what?

F10 SP&F09 28 (1) Democrat 38 3 (2) Independent 4 11 (3) Republican 11

0 (4) Other; minor party 1 8 (5) Don't know; not applicable 13

Q5. Presidential Preference in 2004

Regardless of whether you voted or not, whom did you prefer for President in the 2004 election?

F10 SP&F09

16 (1) George W. Bush 15

21 (2) John F. Kerry 41

7 (3) Ralph Nader 5

1 (4) Other minor party candidate 2

5 (5) Don't know; no preference 4

Q6. Campaign Interest

Some people don't pay much attention to political campaigns. How about you? How interested were you in the 2008 Presidential election campaign?

F10 SP&F09

2 (1) Not much interested 0

18 (2) Somewhat interested 10

30 (3) Very much interested 57

Q7. Democratic Nomination PreferenceWhich candidate did [do] you prefer for the 2008 Democratic

presidential nomination?

F10 SP&F09 F08 F07 12 13 (1) Hillary Clinton 9 9

1 5 (2) John Edwards 2 8 26 47 (3) Barack Obama 30 16

2 0 (4) Bill Richardson/ 1 Al Gore 7

9 2 (5) Other candidate; don’t 5 10 know; no preference

0 1 (9) 1 0

Q8. Republican Nomination Preference

Which [possible] candidate did [do] you prefer for the 2008 Republican presidential nomination? [F10 corrected]

F10 SP&F09 F08 F07

7 7 (1) Rudy Giuliani 5 16

4 11 (2) Mike Huckabee/ 3

Fred Thompson [??] 3

12 21 (3) John McCain 21 10

6 3 (4) Mitt Romney 6 4

21 24 (5) Other candidate; don’t 12 17

know; no preference (9) 1

Fred Thompson

Q9. Watched Debates?

Did you watch the televised Presidential debates between Obama and McCain last Fall?

F10 SP&F09

22 (1) Yes, most or all of the debates. 31

24 (2) Yes, at least one debate 31

4 (3) No, I did not watch any of the 5debates

0 (4) Don't know; don't remember 0

Q10. Voted? In surveys about elections, it is often found that a lot of

people were not able to vote because they weren't registered, they were sick, or they just didn't have time. How about you — did you vote in the last Presidential election in November 2008?

F10 SP&F09

7 (1) I was not eligible to vote at the 4time of the 2004 election (not 18

years of age, not a citizen, etc.) 39 (2) Yes, I did vote 46 4 (3) No, I didn't vote (though I was 16

eligible) 0 (4) Don't know; don't remember 0

Q11. Presidential Preference

Regardless of whether you voted or not, whom did [do] you prefer for President? [If an election were held today between John McCain and Barack Obama, whom would you prefer for President?]

F10 SP&F09 F08 F07

11 9 (1) John McCain 10 14

32 52 (2) Barack Obama 33 32

5 5 (3) Other minor candidate 0 0

2 1 (4) No preference; don’t know 0 0

Q12. Presidential Approval

Do you approve or disapprove of the way Barak Obama [George W. Bush] is handling his job as President?

F10 SP&F09 F08 F07

4 11 (1) Strongly approve 1 1

22 37 (2) Approve 6 7

15 2 (3) Disapprove 14 15

3 3 (4) Strongly disapprove 23 27

6 13 (5) No opinion 4 0

1 (9) 1

Q13. Abortion OpinionWith regard to the issue of abortion, which statement best agrees with

your view?

F10 SP&F09

0 (1) By law, abortion should never be 3permitted.

14 (2) The law should permit abortion only in 16case of rape, incest, or when the woman's life is in danger.

6 (3) The law should permit abortion for 19 other reasons than rape, incest, or

danger to the woman's life, but only after the need for the abortion has been clearly established.

30 (4) By law, a woman should always be 29 able to obtain an abortion as a matter

of personal choice.

Q14. Health Insurance Opinion With regard to the matter of the government's role in health

insurance, where would you place yourself on the following scale?

F10 SP&F09 10 (1) There should be a government 18

insurance plan that would cover all medical and hospital costs

for everyone. 12 (2) Mixture but mostly government. 19 11 (3) Mixture about even between 15

government and private. 12 (4) Mixture but mostly private. 11 5 (5) All medical expenses should be 4

paid by individuals and through private insurance plans like Blue Cross or other company paid plans.

Q15. Democratic Party Thermometer Scale

On a scale of 0 degrees to 100 degrees, how cool (unfavorable) or warm (favorable) do feel toward the Democratic Party?

F09 SP&F09

3 (1) 0-20 degrees 1

13 (2) 21-40 degrees 10

14 (3) 41-60 degrees 12

10 (4) 61-80 degrees 29

10 (5) 81-100 degrees 15

Q16. Republican Party Thermometer Scale

On a scale of 0 degrees to 100 degrees, how cool (unfavorable) or warm (favorable) do feel toward the Republican Party?

F10 SP&F09 14 (1) 0-20 degrees 17 9 (2) 21-40 degrees 23

13 (3) 41-60 degrees 21 11 (4) 61-80 degrees 4 3 (5) 81-100 degrees 2

Q17. Follow Public Affairs

How often would you say that you follow what is going on in government and public affairs?

F10 SP&F09

27 (1) Most of the time 40

19 (2) Some of the time 24

2 (3) Little 2

2 (4) Very little 1

Q18. Government Wastes $$$

Do you think that people in the government waste a lot of the money we pay in taxes or waste just some or very little of it?

F10 SP&F09

34 (1) Waste a lot 51

19 (2) Waste some or little 15

(4) ??? 1

Q19. Government Does What’s Right

How much of the time do you think that you can trust the government in Washington to do what is right?

F10 SP&F09

37 (1) Some of the time 46

13 (2) Most of the time 21

Q20. Big Interests vs. People

Would you say the government is pretty much run by a few big interests looking out for themselves or that it is run for the benefit of all the people?

F10 SP&F09

35 (1) For few big interests 43

14 (2) Benefit of all 24

1 (3) ???

Q21. People Have Say

Do you agree or disagree with the statement, "People like me don't have any say about what the government does"?

F10 SP&F09

3 (1) Agree 11

19 (2) Neutral 21

28 (3) Disagree 35

Q22. Public Officials Care

Do you agree or disagree with the statement, "I don't think public officials care much what people like me think"?

F10 SP&F09

13 (1) Agree 9

13 (2) Neutral 29

24 (3) Disagree 29

Q23. Politics Too Complicated

Do you agree or disagree with the statement, "Sometimes politics and government seem so complicated that a person like me can't really understand what's going on"?

F10 SP&F09

10 (1) Agree 9

8 (2) Neutral 11

32 (3) Disagree 47

Q24. R’s Own Ideology

We hear a lot of talk these days about liberals and conservatives. Where would you place yourself in these terms?

F10 SP&F09 13 (1) Liberal 17 12 (2) Slightly liberal 20 10 (3) Moderate/middle of road 21

9 (4) Slightly conservative 4 6 (5) Conservative 5

Q25. Bush Ideology

Where would you place George W. Bush in these terms?

F10 SP&F09

2 (1) Liberal 2

2 (2) Slightly liberal 0

5 (3) Moderate/middle of road 4

5 (4) Slightly conservative 18

36 (5) Conservative 43

Q26. Bill Clinton Ideology

Where would you place Bill Clinton in these terms?

F10 SP&F09

18 (1) Liberal 24

22 (2) Slightly liberal 31

8 (3) Moderate/middle of road 10

1 (4) Slightly conservative 0

1 (5) Conservative 2

Q27. Hillary Clinton Ideology

Where would you place Hillary Clinton in these terms?

F10 SP&F09

24 (1) Liberal 29

17 (2) Slightly liberal 22

5 (3) Moderate/middle of road 11

3 (4) Slightly conservative 5

1 (5) Conservative 0

Q28. McCain Ideology

Where would you place John McCain in these terms?

F10 SP&F09

2 (1) Liberal 1

2 (2) Slightly liberal 1

5 (3) Moderate/middle of road 13

23 (4) Slightly conservative 30

18 (5) Conservative 22

Q29. Obama Ideology

Where would you place Barack Obama in these terms?

F10 SP&F09

26 (1) Liberal 33

17 (2) Slightly liberal 26

4 (3) Moderate/middle of road 6

2 (4) Slightly conservative 2

1 (5) Conservative 0

Q30. Ralph Nader Ideology

Where would you place Ralph Nader in these terms?

F10 SP&F09

16 (1) Liberal 29

4 (2) Slightly liberal 6

20 (3) Moderate/middle of road 24

6 (4) Slightly conservative 5

3 (5) Conservative 3

1 (9)

Q31. Palin/Schwarzenegger Ideology

Where would you place Sarah Palin/ Arnold Schwarzenegger in these terms?

F09 SP&F09

2 (1) Liberal 5

0 (2) Slightly liberal 7

7 (3) Moderate/middle of road 17

7 (4) Slightly conservative 27

34 (5) Conservative 11

Q32. Democratic Party Ideology

Where would you place the Democratic Party in these terms?

F10 SP&F09

25 (1) Liberal 28

18 (2) Slightly liberal 31

4 (3) Moderate/middle of road 6

1 (4) Slightly conservative 0

2 (5) Conservative 0

Q33. Republican Party Ideology

Where would you place the Republican Party in these terms?

F10 SP&F09

4 (1) Liberal 1

0 (2) Slightly liberal 1

0 (3) Moderate/middle of road 3

12 (4) Slightly conservative 20

34 (5) Conservative 42