CBS News/New York Times New York State Poll, September 2000

This special topic poll, fielded September 14-19, 2000,queried residents of New York State on the Senate race between FirstLady Hillary Rodham Clinton and United States Representative RickLazio in 2000, and on a range of other political and social issues.Respondents were asked to give their opinions of President BillClinton, New York State governor George Pataki, New York City mayorRudolph Giuliani, Hillary Clinton, Lazio, Connecticut senator JosephLieberman, and Arizona senator John McCain. Regarding the 2000 Senaterace, respondents were asked how much attention they were paying tothe upcoming election, for whom they would vote, and whether thatdecision was firm. Regardless of how they intended to vote,respondents were asked who they thought was going to win the Senateelection in November 2000. Respondents were also asked which of thetwo candidates cared about people like the respondent. Opinionsregarding the availability of abortions, tax-funded abortions,partial-birth abortions, and how much their votes for senator would beaffected by their views on abortion were also gathered fromrespondents. Respondents were asked whether they supported tax-fundedvouchers for private and religious education, and whether theprojected budget surplus should be used for tax cuts, paying down thenational debt, or preserving programs such as Medicare and SocialSecurity. The poll queried respondents on whether Hillary Clinton andLazio had the right kind of experience and character to be a senatorfrom New York State. Respondents were also asked whether HillaryClinton or Lazio, if elected, would be a strong supporter of Israeland would be able to get along and work with other members of theSenate, and whether Hillary Clinton's job as senator would be affectedbecause she had not lived in New York for many years. Items oncampaign advertising covered whether the candidates had spent moretime attacking each other or explaining what they would do as senator,whether the 2000 senate campaign was more negative than the 1998campaign, whether television ads for the candidates were true or not,and whether these commercials had helped the respondents decide whomto support. Other questions queried respondents on whether they hadwatched the debate between Hillary Clinton and Lazio on September 13,2000, which candidate they thought did the better job in the debate,whether the tone of the debate was too negative, whether eithercandidate was too aggressive in the debate, and which candidate theythought won the debate. Opinions were also gathered about Lazio'sproposal that both he and Hillary Clinton not accept "soft money"contributions, whether Hillary Clinton should accept the proposal, andwhether Lazio was genuine about his proposal. Regarding the upcoming2000 presidential election, respondents were asked for whom they weremost likely to vote: Vice President Al Gore, Texas governor GeorgeW. Bush, conservative commentator Pat Buchanan, or consumer advocateRalph Nader. Background information on respondents includes voterregistration and participation history, political party, politicalorientation, marital status, religion, education, age, sex, race,Hispanic descent, and family income.