CBS News/New York Times Monthly Poll, March 1991

This data collection is part of a continuing series of monthly surveys that evaluate the Bush presidency and solicit opinions on a variety of political and social issues. Demographic information collected includes sex, age, race, education, family members serving in the Armed Forces in the Persian Gulf, family income, religion, ethnicity, political orientation, party preference, and voting behavior. Issues addressed in this survey include Bush's handling of the economy and foreign policy, how things were going in the United States compared with five years ago and what the situation would be five years from now, whether the country was heading in the right direction, the most important problem facing the country, and the political party that could best handle it. Respondents were also asked for their opinions of various public figures including Dan Quayle, Norman Schwarzkopf, and Dick Cheney. Other questions concerned whether the United States was in decline as a world power, the trustworthiness of the government and military, the country that will be the number one economic power in the world in the next century, and what the future holds for the next generation of Americans. The survey also posed a series of questions pertaining to the likelihood and appropriateness of future military intervention elsewhere by the United States now that the Persian Gulf War was over, sympathy for Israel vs. sympathy for Arab nations, the economic recession, the homeless, the drug problem, education, the environment, comparison of the Democratic vs. Republican parties on a variety of topics, voting for congressmen based on whether they voted to authorize war or continue economic sanctions, reducing the federal budget deficit, comparison of the technological advancement of the United States and Japan, and the likelihood of voting for George Bush or the Democratic candidate in 1992.