2004 National Exit Polls: The national poll sampled some 11,719 voters as they left polling stations on November 2, 2004 and another 500 telephone interviews (for each version of the questionnaire) of absentee/early voters. Questions pertaining to the respondents' choice for President included when they made their decision, which candidate qualities drove their decision and which primary issue mattered most to them. Some other questions on the poll asked respondents' their views on the war in Iraq, personal finances, terrorism, health care, gay marriage, and abortion. The surveys offer a full battery of demographic variables. The individual state surveys also included questions regarding local races and referenda where applicable.
2000 National Exit Polls: On November 7, 2000 VNS interviewed 13,225 voters as they exited the polling booths. In this survey respondents faced similar questions in assessing their choice for President, but an additional element concerning the possible role that outgoing President Bill Clinton played in the decision making process. Those items included Clinton performance rating, general opinion of him and the impact of the scandals on the vote, and a question assessing Clinton's responsi bility for the economy. Policy questions covered a full array of issues including Social Security, taxes, education, prescription drugs, environment, gun ownership, and the economy. Copious demographic variables are available to investigate patterns among groups. State surveys in this collection asked about voting in election s besides the presidency and pertinent referenda.
The CD includes 1) ASCII data files for the national and all state polls, 2) SPSS portable files for the national and all state polls, 3) Crosstabular results released on election night for the national and all state polls, and 4) Complete documentation including the evaluation of the 2004 system of data collection produced by Edison and Mistofsky. Additional information on the CD includes: 1) National Election Exit Polls -- How Groups Vote d in the Last 8 Elections, 2) Crosstabs from each Presidential Election Exit Poll from 1976 to 2004, 3) Links to supplemental sources of information relevant to election analyses, 4) Presidential Approval Ratings from FDR to George W. Bush, 5) Pre-election Bush/Kerry polls (horse race trends), 6) Current data tracking social, economic, foreign & domestic issues, and 7) Popular Vote/Voter Turnout.