Washington Post 1996 Politics Poll, Wave 1, September 1996

This special topic poll, conducted September 20-26, 1996,
is part of a continuing series of monthly surveys that solicit public
opinion on the presidency and on a range of political and social
issues. The focus of this data collection was on the upcoming 1996
presidential and congressional elections. Those queried were asked
about the likelihood that they would vote, for whom they would vote if
the election were held that day, when they decided on their candidate,
whether they had learned enough about the candidates to make an
informed choice, and whether factors such as leadership and a
candidate's stance on issues were major or minor reasons for their
vote. Respondents were quizzed on their knowledge of the presidential
and vice-presidential candidates, party platforms, campaign funding,
which presidential candidate was leading in the polls, and which party
had the most members in the United States Congress. Views were sought
on the media's treatment of the presidential candidates, campaign
advertisements featuring Newt Gingrich and the issue of Medicare,
whether presidential campaigns were more negative than in the past,
the influence of the recent party conventions, and whether the news
media should report public opinion poll results. Other topics
addressed abortion, sources of campaign information, how much
attention respondents paid to media coverage of the presidential
campaign, and whether they cared who won. Demographic variables
include sex, age, race, ethnicity, education level, marital status,
household income, political party affiliation, political philosophy,
labor union membership, voter registration status, religious
preference, and whether respondents thought of themselves as
born-again or evangelical Christians.