CBS News South Carolina Primary Poll, December 2007

This poll, fielded December 13-17, 2007, 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. All of the respondents to this poll were registered voters from South Carolina. The poll included an oversample of African Americans respondents, for a total of 444 African American registered voters. Respondents were asked whether they approved of the way George W. Bush was handling his job as president. Several questions were asked pertaining to the 2008 presidential campaign and the South Carolina presidential primary including how much attention respondents paid to the presidential campaign, the one issue respondents wanted candidates to discuss during the campaign, whether they thought America was ready to elect a Black president, whether they had attended any campaign events, the likelihood respondents would vote in the primary, whether they would vote in the Democratic or Republican primary, and whether the respondent had ever voted in a primary before. Respondents were asked their opinion of presidential candidates Hillary Clinton, John Edwards, Barack Obama, John McCain, Mitt Romney, Rudy Giuliani, Fred Thompson, and Mike Huckabee. Respondents were queried on which candidate they supported, why they supported that specific candidate, whether they had ever supported a different candidate, which candidate they thought had the best chance of winning, whether they thought the candidates had prepared themselves for the job of president, whether they thought each candidate shared the same values of most people in South Carolina, which candidate they thought would bring change to the way things are done in Washington, and which candidate they thought cared most about the needs and problems of Black people. Respondents were also asked which candidate came closest to their own view on illegal immigration, how important it was that a candidate shared their religious beliefs, whether they would vote for a candidate that did not share their views on social issues, and whether they would vote for a candidate that was of a different race, religion, and gender than their own. Questions about the campaigns of Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton addressed the issues of whether Oprah Winfrey's involvement in Obama's campaign made respondents more likely to support Obama, and whether Bill Clinton's involvement in Hillary Clinton's campaign made respondents more likely to support Hillary Clinton. Information was also collected on whether the respondent considered him or herself to be a born-again Christian, whether there were any labor union members in the household, and whether the respondent or any member of the respondent's family served in the armed forces in Iraq. Additional topics in this poll included illegal immigration, Social Security, United States involvement in Iraq, terrorism, and abortion. Demographic information includes sex, age, race, education level, household income, marital status, religious preference, frequency of religious attendance, type of residential area (e.g., urban or rural), political party affiliation, political philosophy, voter registration status and participation history, the presence of children under 18, and labor union member status.