ANES 1980 Time Series Study

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. The 1980 Election Study is comprised of several integrated survey data collections occurring at strategically chosen periods in the course of the election year, along with vote validation and contextual data. Four areas were targeted for special attention: new measurement of party identification, the measurement of voter attitudes concerning issues of public policy, new content concerning public perceptions of and responses to political leadership, and the exploration of social networks in the crystallization of the vote choice. The National Election Studies Board established a 1980 Presidential Elections Committee that consisted of three Board members (Merrill Shanks, John Jackson, David Sears) and three additional scholars (Richard S. Brody, Jack Dennis, Donald R. Kinder). This committee, along with the Center for Political Studies project staff, was responsible for the planning of the year-long study. Part 2, the Pre- and Post-Election Surveys file [C-3/C3po], contains the traditional election survey data. Contextual measures provided along with the survey data include election returns, interest group ratings of incumbents, and Federal Election Commission campaign contribution data. Part 4, the Major Panel File [P1-P4], presents a year-long four-wave panel. The panel began in late January 1980 as a national cross-section of 1,008 cases, and interviewing ended before the New Hampshire primary on February 24, 1980. Respondents from the first wave [P-1] were reinterviewed in June immediately after the last set of primary elections that were held on June 3, 1980. The third panel interview [P-3] was conducted during the month of September 1980. The fourth and final wave [P-4] was conducted immediately after the general election and includes reinterviews with respondents who did not participate in Wave 3. Wave 4 was a fifteen-minute telephone interview. Part 3, the Integrated File, ICPSR Version, in addition to pre-/post-survey data from Part 2 and Major Panel data from Part 4, contains an independent cross-section sample [C-1] of 965 cases who were interviewed in the midst of the primary season during the three-week "window" following the early April primaries. These respondents were reinterviewed following the general election [C-4] with a telephone interview essentially the same as that administered to P-4 respondents. This complex file was prepared to facilitate the analytic use of the large body of data gathered in 1980. Virtually all of the 1980 data are included in this file, with data merged as appropriate for panel samples. The individual files for each of the 1980 surveys have been reformatted to a standardized data record structure in such a manner that the data for identical questions across studies are always stored under the same variable number and in a fixed and specified record location in the integrated file. Filters are included to allow users to retrieve specific samples from the file. Vote validation data are included in the file.