CBS News/New York Times Monthly Poll, January 2005

This poll, conducted January 14-18, 2005, is part of a continuing series of monthly surveys that solicit public opinion on the presidency and on a range of other political and social issues. Respondents were asked to give their opinions of President George W. Bush and his handling of the presidency and issues such as the campaign against terrorism and the situation in Iraq. Those polled stated their opinions of Vice President Dick Cheney and the Republican and Democratic parties, how well the United States Congress was doing its job, and whether things were currently going better in the United States than five years ago. Respondents voiced their concerns about the most important problem facing the country, the condition of the national economy, their own household's financial security, and whether various things such as the federal budget deficit would be different by the end of President Bush's second term in office. Views were sought on Iraq's upcoming elections, how much the Bush Administration knew about the presence of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq prior to the war, whether military action should have been taken against Iraq, and whether the United States was winning the war on terrorism. Additional questions focused on abortion, Social Security and other retirement savings, federal income tax cuts, the recent flat tax rate proposal, the type of Supreme Court Justices that President Bush would be likely to nominate, the upcoming presidential inauguration, the recent tsunami in South Asia, and the effect of new technologies on respondents' lives. Demographic variables include age, sex, race, household income, education level, political party affiliation, political philosophy, religious affiliation, marital status, whether there were children in the household, and for whom the respondent voted in the 2004 presidential election.