Trends in Public Opinion: A Compendium of Survey Data

Polls are at their best as indicators of public opinion when they allow comparison over extended periods of time. Yet all too often changes in question working and in questionnaire content make over-time comparisons impossible. This works aims to overcome this difficulty by bringing together a compendium of results using identically worded questions on a range of social, political and economic topics of importance to the American people. Chapter introductions summarize trends in the various areas surveyed and discuss problems of interpretation. The chapters on political behaviour and attitudes present findings on party identification, political tolerance, voting, civil liberties, international affairs and related issues. Chapters on work, the family and sexuality cover such topics as job prestige and satisfaction, the role of women, divorce, family size, sex education, abortion, premarital and extramarital sex, homosexuality and pornography. Other issues addressed include crime and violence, race, death and dying, life style and general attitudes toward life. Trend analysis based on general social surveys conducted regularly by the Nation Opinion Research Centre of the University of Chicago since 1972 is supplemented by data from 25 other sources extending back to the 1930s. The questions chosen are standardized and have been asked in interviews over a significant period. Survey results are displayed in a readable format that facilitates comparisons over time.