ANES {mixedMem}

Responses from 1983 American National Election Survey Pilot

Description

ANES contains political ideology survey data from the 1983 American National Election Survey Pilot. Respondents were read a value statement and asked to report their level of agreement: ‘strongly agree’, ‘agree’, ‘can’t decide', ‘disagree’, and strongly disagree'. The 279 complete responses to the 19 statements selected by Feldman (1988) and reanalyzed by Gross and Manrique-Vallier (2014) are included. ‘Strongly disagree’ and ‘disagree’ as well as ‘strongly agree’ and 'agree' have been collapsed into single categories. 0 indicates ‘agree’, 1 indicates ‘can’t decide', and 2 indicates ‘disagree’. The statements have been grouped into 3 overarching themes as indicated in the variable names- Equality (EQ), Economic Individualism (IND), and Free Enterprise (ENT). Variable ID's from the original ANES questionnaire are included in parentheses. An example analysis of the data is included in the "Fitting Mixed Membership Models Using mixedMem" vignette.

Usage

data(ANES)

Format

A data frame with 279 individuals and 19 variables:

EQ1

If people were treated more equally in this country, we would have many fewer problems (V832169)

EQ2

We should give up on the goal of equality, since people are so different to begin with (V832172)

EQ3

Our society should do whatever is necessary to make sure that everyone has an equal opportunity to succeed (V832175)

EQ4

Some people are just better cut out than others for important positions in society (V832178)

EQ5

Some people are better at running things and should be allowed to do so (V832250)

EQ6

All kinds of people should have an equal say in running this country, not just those who are successful (V832253)

EQ7

One of the big problems in this country is that we don't give everyone an equal chance (V832256)

IND1

Any person who is willing to work hard has a good chance of succeeding (V832170)

IND2

Hard work offers little guarantee of success (V832173)

IND3

Most people who don't get ahead should not blame the system; they really have only themselves to blame (V832176)

IND4

Even if people are ambitious, they often cannot succeed (V832251)

IND5

If people work hard, they almost always get what they want (V832254)

IND6

Even if people try hard, they often cannot reach their goals (V832257)

ENT1

The less government gets involved with business and the economy, the better off this country will be (V832171)

ENT2

There are many goods and services that would never be available to ordinary people without governmental intervention (V832174)

ENT3

There should be no government interference with business and trade (V832177)

ENT4

Putting government regulations on business does not endanger personal freedom (V832252)

ENT5

Government intervention leads to too much red tape and too many problems (V832255)

ENT6

Contrary to what some people think, a free enterprise system is not necessary for our form of government to survive (V832258)

References

Feldman, Stanley. "Structure and consistency in public opinion: The role of core beliefs and values." American Journal of Political Science (1988): 416-440.

Gross, J.H. and Manrique-Vallier, D. "A Mixed-Membership Approach to the Assessment of Political Ideology from Survey Responses." in Airoldi, E. M., Blei, D. M., Erosheva, E. A., and Fienberg, S. E. Handbook of Mixed Membership Models and Its Applications. Chapman & Hall/CRC, 2014

National Election Studies, 1983 Pilot Election Study. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan, Center for Political Studies, 1999