STUDY CONTENT HIGHLIGHTS:
In addition to content on electoral participation, voting behavior, and public opinion, the 2004 ANES contains questions in other areas such as media exposure, cognitive style, and values and predispositions. Special-interest and topical content provided significant coverage of foreign policy, including the war on terrorism and the war in Iraq. In addition, the study carried expanded instrumentation on unemployment and inflation, gender politics, and gay and lesbian politics. An exceptional feature was the insertion of the comprehensive module on representation and accountability, Module 2, from the Comparative Study of Electoral Systems (CSES), at the end of the Post-election interview.

STUDY DESIGN HIGHLIGHTS:
The design of the 2004 ANES was marked by a return to the traditional time series combination of area probability sample, face-to-face interviewing, and freshly-drawn cross-section. A notable design feature was the continuation of the experiment which was begun in 2002 on the measurement of voter turnout. Other design features included a question order experiment for evaluation of general direction of the country, additions to issue placements of importance follow-ups, and the administration of parallel sets of social group 'linked fate' questions to group member respondents who were female, black, or Hispanic.

Pre-election interviews averaging 70 minutes in length were conducted September 7 through November 1, 2004. No interviewing was conducted on Election Day, November 2. Post-election interviews averaging 65 minutes were administered November 3 through December 20. Randomization, employed for selection of half-samples to reduce overall interview length, and for question order within batteries, was implemented by the CAI instrumentation. The total sample included 1,833 eligible persons and produced 1,212 interviews. In the post-election survey, 1,066 persons granted re-interviews.

WEIGHTS SUMMARY:
V040101 is a full-sample pre-election weight which is the product of the household non-response adjustment factor, the within-household selection weight, and a post-stratification adjustment factor by age and education. V040102 is the corresponding post-election weight, adjusted for attrition.

AUXILARY FILES DESCRIPTION:
The 2004 ANES Auxiliary File of contextual data was created to provide a core of information for analysts interested in examining, or gathering data related to, the 2004 general elections in a larger framework: candidate biographical data, past elections, expenditures, House and Senate member records and ratings, and district and state descriptions. The 436 records represent all U.S. Congressional districts (and, for population description, the District of Columbia) and thus may be used with both the 2004 ANES time series study and the 2004 ANES Panel File.