ANES 1972-1976 Merged File

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. This collection consists of a distinct panel across the three election waves, the cross-section samples associated with each election study, and a vote validation study. The panel component consists of a maximum of five interview points for each respondent (pre- and post-1972 election, post-1974 election, and pre- and post-1976 election) taken from the American National Election Studies of 1972 (ICPSR 7010), 1974 (ICPSR 7355), and 1976 (ICPSR 7381). The vote validation data were gathered in the spring and summer of 1977, through interviews with election registration officials and from examination of voting records of the respondents participating in these election studies. The collection also includes filter variables that allow for the retrieval of each of the distinct panel and cross-section samples.