ANES 1996 Time Series Study

This study is part of a time-series collection of national
surveys fielded continuously since 1948, 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 1996 National Election Study contains both a pre-
and a post-election component. The pre-election survey includes
interviews in which approximately 77 percent of the cases are empaneled respondents who were first interviewed in the ANES 1992 TIME SERIES STUDY
(ICPSR 6067) or the ANES 1994 TIME SERIES STUDY (ICPSR 6507), or both. The other 23 percent of the pre-election cases are a freshly drawn cross-section sample. Of the 1,714 citizens interviewed during the pre-election stage, 1,534 (89.5 percent) also participated in the post-election survey: 1,197 of these
respondents were panel cases and 337 were cross-section. The content of the 1996
Election Study reflects its dual function, both as a traditional
presidential election year time-series data collection and as a panel
study. Substantive themes presented in the 1996 questionnaires
included interest in political campaigns, evaluations of the political parties, knowledge and evaluation of the presidential
and House candidates, political participation (including turnout in
the presidential primaries and in the November general election as well as
other forms of electoral campaign activity), and vote choices for
president, the United States House of Representatives, and the United
States Senate. Additional items focus on perceptions of personal and national economic well-being, positions on social welfare issues like the role of government in the provision of jobs and a good standard of living, positions on social issues (including abortion, women's roles, and prayer in the schools),
racial and ethnic stereotypes, opinions on affirmative action,
attitudes toward immigrants, opinions about the nation's most
important problems, political predispositions, social altruism, social
networks, feeling thermometers for a wide range of political
figures and political groups, affinity with various social groups. The 1996 study also includes new measures related to the dynamics of the congressional campaign, questions regarding the importance of issues, and the respondents' level of certainty regarding their expressed opinions, as well as new items about crime, the environment, gun control and income inequality. An eight-minute module of questions included in the post-election survey was developed by a consortium of electoral scholars from 52 polities to facilitate comparative analysis of political attitudes and voting behavior. Social capital items assess trust in people and government as well as membership and activity in a wide variety of social, political, religious, and civic organizations. A full complement of variables on group membership and participation is also available in the Group Membership File which can be merged with the Main Data File. Detailed demographic information is provided, as well as measures of religious affiliation and religiosity.