National Politics Study, 2008

The 2008 election offers a rare opportunity to analyze a significant event in American history - the election of the first African American president. Because the longitudinal panel series began in 2004, prior to the emergence of President Obama as a serious political candidate and nominee, the results from these surveys provide a rare vehicle for comparing data over time on important demographic, political, and, of particular interest given President Obama's racial background, racial and ethnic issues related to vote choice and political behavior. The wealth of data obtained from this survey will benefit scholars for many years to come. This report provides a general overview of some of the key findings from the 2008 data collection. Topics covered include: demographic information of the population, work status, home ownership, political ideology, party identification, presidential choice, race relations, feeling thermometer data for a variety of political figures and relevant groups or organizations, and current events such as the Iraq War and same-sex marriage. Because differences among the racial and ethnic groups surveyed in this study are of political significance (Whites, African Americans, Hispanics, Asian Americans, and Caribbean Blacks), much of the data presented here is disaggregated by racial and ethnic group.

2008年的选举为分析美国历史上的一个重大事件——首位非裔美国总统的选举——提供了罕见的机遇。鉴于纵向面板系列始于2004年，早于奥巴马总统作为严肃的政治候选人和提名人的出现，这些调查的结果为罕见的时间序列数据提供了独特的平台，用于比较重要的人口统计学、政治以及，鉴于奥巴马总统的种族背景，与投票选择和政治行为相关的种族和民族问题。从这次调查中获得的大量数据将为学者们多年来的研究提供裨益。本报告概述了2008年数据收集的一些关键发现。涵盖的主题包括：人口统计学信息、就业状况、房屋所有权、政治意识形态、政党认同、总统选举、种族关系、针对各种政治人物和相关群体或组织的感受温度数据，以及当前事件，如伊拉克战争和同性婚姻。鉴于在本研究中调查的种族和民族群体之间的差异具有政治意义（白人、非裔美国人、西班牙裔美国人、亚裔美国人以及加勒比黑人），此处展示的大部分数据都是按种族和民族群体进行细分的。