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QUESTION:
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1960:
What would you personally feel are the most important problems the
government should try to take care of when the new President and
Congress take office in January?
1964:
As you well know, there are many serious problems in this country and in
other parts of the world. The question is, what should be done about
them and who should do it. We want to ask you about problems you think
the government in Washington should do something about and any problems
it should stay out of. First, what would you personally feel are the
most important problems the government should try to take care of when
the new President and Congress take office in January?
1966:
What do you personally feel are the most important problems which the
government in Washington should try to take care of?
1968,1980,1982:
As you well know, the government faces many serious problems in this
country and in other parts of the world. What do you personally feel
are the most important problems which the government in Washington
should try to take care of?
1970:
As you well know, there are many serious problems in this country and in
other parts of the world. We'd like to start out by talking with you
about some of them. What do you personally feel are the most important
problems which the government in Washington should try to take care of?
1972-1978,1984 AND LATER:
What do you think are the most important problems facing this country?
(IF MORE THAN ONE PROBLEM:) Of all you've told me (1996-LATER: Of those
you've mentioned), what would you say is the single most important
problem the country faces?
VALID_CODES:
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01. AGRICULTURAL
02. ECONOMICS; BUSINESS; CONSUMER ISSUES
(includes foreign investment, tariffs/protection of
U.S. industries, international trade deficit/balance
of payments, immigration, interstate
commerce/transportation; does not
include unemployment [09], defense spending [03],
foreign [03] or government spending on domestic
social welfare [09])
03. FOREIGN AFFAIRS AND NATIONAL DEFENSE
(includes: foreign aid, defense spending, the space
program; does not include: international trade
deficit [02])
04. GOVERNMENT FUNCTIONING
(not "the economy" [02])
05. LABOR ISSUES
(not unemployment [09])
06. NATURAL RESOURCES
07. PUBLIC ORDER
(includes: crime, drugs, civil liberties and non
racial civil rights, women's rights, abortion
rights, gun control, family/social/religious/moral
'decay,' church and state, etc.)
08. RACIAL PROBLEMS
(note: this primarily includes civil rights issues
and racial equality; monetary assistance to
minorities is primarily found in code 9, however
there is a slight overlap: see Note 7 for specific
codes; note especially 1988 code 300 and 1966-1972
codes 61-63)
09. SOCIAL WELFARE
(includes: population, child care, aid to education,
the elderly, health care, housing, poverty,
unemployment, 'welfare' etc.)
97. Other problems (incl. specific campaign issues)
MISSING_CODES:
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98. DK (exc. 1960,1964,1966)
99. NA; no Post IW; abbrev. telephone IW (1984);
Form I, III or IV (1972); no Pre IW; short form IW
(1992); question not administered in assigned half
sample [see VCF0012a] (1996, 2000)
00. None; "there were no issues;" "there was no campaign
in my district" (non-presidential years); DK
(1960,1964,1966 only)
Inap. question not used
NOTES:
------
See Appendix note "MOST IMPORTANT PROBLEM".
GENERAL NOTE:
Because of changes in the full sets of codes which have been used over
time, this variable is limited to preserving the major groupings which
have been utilized with essential consistency through all years. The
appendix note gives exact study-by-study versions of the texts of
individual codes which have been collapsed to form the VCF0875 group
categories.
In the 1960, 1966, and 1970 study datasets, one multiple- response
variable was coded which included up to 3 mentions (1970: 4). In 1960
and 1970, variables were coded in order of importance in cases where R
mentioned more than one problem. Within the study documentation for
these two years, it was also stated that, in cases of more than one
mentioned problem, if order of importance was 'not clear,' responses
were then coded in order of mention. From the 1966 documentation, it
is not apparent if multiple responses were coded in order of importance
or if they were coded in order of mention. The first CODED response
(variable) in studies 1960, 1966, and 1970 has been used here.
In the 1964 and 1968 study datasets, one single-response variable
was coded. This variable was described as including, in cases of more
than one given response, the mention considered most important by R.
Documentation in both years added that if order of importance was 'not
clear,' responses were coded in order of mention: in such event, the
single variable appearing in the study dataset represented the first
mention.
Note that, for cases where R mentioned two or three problems but
missing data (DK or NA) appeared in the 'choice' variable (i.e., R did
not choose a single most important problem), the first mention has not
been included here, but MD has been coded. EXCEPTION: in 1986, in 142
cases the interviewer mistakenly did not ask R to rank problems by
importance when R gave more than one mention. In these 142 cases, the
first mention of R has been incorporated.
In 1960, 1964 and 1966, the DK category was combined with "no issues"
and is included in code 00.
1996 NOTE:
A half-sample of respondents were selected to be administered this
question.
2000 NOTE:
same as 1996.
WEIGHT:
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VCF0009/VCF0009a
TYPE:
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Numeric Dec 0
SOURCE_VARS:
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1960: 600050
1964: 640036
1966: 660019
1968: 680048
1970: 700039(type 0)
1972: 720546,720548
1974: 742079
1976: 763689
1978: 780311,780315
1980: 800979
1982: 820299
1984: 840993
1986: 860306
1988: 880817
1990: 900326
1992: 925726
1994: 940706
1996: 961141
1998: 980346
2000: 000436
Walter Mebane
2005-11-03