In the example table below, each column represents a year, with the actual year of
the study given in the first row
(for instance, "'64" corresponds to the 1964
ANES). The rows of the table correspond to the response categories
for the
question. For example, in 1964, 29% of respondents felt that the government is
run by a Few Big Interests;
64% thought that the government is run for
the Benefit of All People; and 7% replied Don't Know or Depends.
To examine change in opinion over time, compare the numbers within a row of
the table. For example, to see how
opinion has changed on this question,
compare the 29% who said Few Big Interests in 1964, to the 33% who said
this in 1966 to the 40% in 1968 ... to the 70% in 1996.
Is the Government Run for the Benefit of All 1964-2004
'64 | '66 | '68 | '70 | '72 | '74 | '76 | '78 | '80 | '82 | '84 | '86 | '88 | '90 | '92 | '94 | '96 | '98 | '00 | '02 | '04 | |
Few Big Interests : | 29 | 33 | 40 | 50 | 53 | 66 | 66 | 67 | 70 | 61 | 55 | ** | 64 | 71 | 75 | 76 | 69 | 64 | 61 | 48 | 56 |
Benefit of All : | 64 | 53 | 51 | 41 | 38 | 25 | 24 | 24 | 21 | 29 | 39 | ** | 31 | 24 | 20 | 19 | 27 | 32 | 35 | 51 | 40 |
Don't Know, Depends: | 7 | 13 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 10 | 9 | 9 | 10 | 6 | ** | 5 | 5 | 4 | 5 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 2 | 4 |
N | 1443 | 1276 | 1336 | 1496 | 2273 | 2500 | 2839 | 2263 | 1593 | 1397 | 1898 | 1761 | 1952 | 2228 | 1757 | 1490 | 1271 | 1530 | 1276 | 1061 |
PERCENTAGE WITHIN STUDY YEAR
Table 5A.2
Source: The American National Election
Studies
Link to the ASCII text
version of this table
QUESTION TEXT:
"Would you say the government is pretty much run by a few big
interests
looking out for themselves or that it is run for the
benefit of all the
people?"
Graph of Response:
Percent among demographic groups who responded:
This question is variable VCF0605 in the ANES Cumulative Data File dataset.
Consult the Cumulative Data File codebook for complete question text and
annotation.
Weight variable VCF0009B was used to produce this table.
(Table generated: 30NOV05)