CBS News Callback Poll, March 2010

This call-back poll, fielded March 23-24, 2010, is a 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. This poll surveyed 649 respondents first interviewed March 18-22, 2010, in the CBS News Monthly Poll, March 2010 [ICPSR 31566]. This dataset contains responses to the call-back questions as well as to questions in the original poll, which asked whether they approved of the way that Barack Obama was handling his job as president, the economy, and health care, whether they approved of the way Congress was handling its job, and whether they had a favorable or unfavorable opinion of Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid. Respondents were queried on how closely they had been following the health care legislation being debated in Congress, whether they approved of health care reform, whether they thought that the health care reform bill would personally effect them, whether they understood the health care reform bill, and whether they thought that the health care bill would make health care better or worse in the next few years. Respondents were also asked whether they thought that the health care reform bill would make sure that health insurance companies would provide health coverage to people with pre-existing medical conditions, help control the cost of health care premiums, and lead to too much government involvement in the health care system. Information was collected on whether respondents thought Congress spent too much time dealing with health care reform, whether they thought that Republicans and Democrats have been trying to pass or defeat the health care bill because it was good policy or mainly for political reasons, and whether they thought that the rules and procedures used in Congress to pass health care reform were fair or not. Respondents were also asked how they thought things were going for the United States in its efforts to bring stability and order to Iraq, how they thought things were going for the United States in the war in Afghanistan, and their views on abortion. Finally, respondents were asked whether they had some form of health insurance and whether they were covered by health insurance through an employer, a union, a personal plan, or through Medicare or Medicaid. In the call-back poll, respondents were re-interviewed on whether they were surprised that the health care reform bill passed, whether they approved of the way that Obama was handling his job as president and health care reform. Respondents were asked how closely they had been following health care legislation that had been debated in Congress, whether they approved or disapproved of the health care reform bill, whether they thought that the health care reform bill personally helped or hurt them, whether they thought that the health care reform bill represented an accomplishment for Obama's presidency and for the Democratic Party, and whether they felt they had a good understanding of how the health care reform bill would affect them and their family. Respondents were also asked if they approved of the way Democrats and Republicans in Congress were handling health care, whether they were disappointed that the final vote on health care did not have more bipartisan support, whether they think Republicans in Congress should continue to challenge parts of the health care bill, whether they thought that the health care reform bill would make the health care system better in the next few years, and whether they thought the health care reform bill would increase or decrease the federal budget deficit. Demographic information includes sex, age, race, marital status, education level, household income, religious preference, type of residential area (e.g., urban or rural), political party affiliation, political philosophy, voter registration status, and whether respondents thought of themselves as born again Christians.