Miller, Warren E., Donald R. Kinder, Steven J. Rosenstone, and the National Election Studies
American National Election Study: Pooled Senate Election Study, 1988, 1990, 1992
(ICPSR 9580)
SUMMARY: This data collection, focusing on Senate elections, combines data from a three-part series (1988, 1990, 1992) of Senate studies. Over the course of these three elections voters in each of the 50 states were interviewed, and data were gathered on citizen evaluations of all senators at three stages of their six-year election cycles. Both survey data and contextual data for all 50 states are included. The survey data facilitate the comparison of House of Representatives and Senate races through the use of questions that generally parallel those questions used in election studies since 1978 concerning respondents' interaction with and evaluation of candidates for the House of Representatives. However, because of redistricting in the early 1990s, the congressional districts for the 1992 respondents could not be pre-identified. The survey instrument was, therefore, redesigned to some degree, cutting some of the House-related content for the 1992 survey. The 50-state survey design also allows for the comparison of respondents' perceptions and evaluation of senators who were up for reelection with those in the second or fourth years of their terms. Topics covered include respondent's recall and like/dislike of House and Senate candidates, issues discussed in the campaigns, contact with House and Senate candidates/ incumbents, respondent's opinion of the proper roles for senators and representatives, a limited set of issue questions, liberal/conservative self-placement, party identification, media exposure, and demographic information. Contextual data presented include election returns for the Senate primary and general elections, voting indices for the years 1983-1990, information about the Senate campaign such as election outcome predictions, campaign pollster used, spending patterns, and demographic, geographic, and economic data for the state. Also included are derived measures that reorganize the House of Representatives and Senate variables by the party and incumbency/challenger status of the candidate and, for Senate variables only, by proximity to next election. Additionally, a number of analytic variables intended to make analyses more convenient (e.g., Senate class number and whether the respondent voted for the incumbent) are presented.
UNIVERSE: All United States citizens of voting age on or before November 8, 1988, or November 6, 1990, or November 3, 1992, residing in households with telephones in the 50 states.
SAMPLING: Two-stage random sample, stratified by state (1988), dual-frame (list and two-stage random digit dialing) within each state (1990), and one-stage, list-assisted random digit dialing with no clustering (1992).
NOTE: The contextual data originally were collected for the Board of Overseers of the National Election Studies by the Contextual Data Committee, chaired by Gary Jacobson and Raymond Wolfinger. Many variables have been updated for the 1990 and 1992 contextual data sections (e.g., elections returns, age of candidates, campaign spending, and some state political, demographic, geographic, and economic variables), while certain variables, for which information could not be found or was not available at the time of release, have been padded with missing data (e.g., some mass- mailing variables, campaign manager, and voting indices).
CODEBOOK: The Pooled Senate File codebook is present on this CD not as a single file but a set of three files. See the file readme.cbk in /NES48TO94/PSEN88TO.92 for a listing of codebook files in their appropriate order.
File Structure: rectangular Cases: 9,253 Variables: 1,899