Data — U.S. Most Important Problem dataset

[briatte]

http://faculty.missouri.edu/williamslaro/mipdata.html

Email from Laron K. Williams to EPSA mailing-list below.

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Hi everyone.

It is my pleasure to announce the release of the 'Most Important Problem' Dataset (MIPD). It is the result of a collaborative project on Americans' issue attentiveness with two Ph.D. students at the University of Missouri (Colton Heffington and Brandon Beomseob Park).

The MIPD collects all available individual-level responses to the 'most important problem facing this country' question in America from 1939 to June 2015. In addition to providing a sense of how individuals prioritize problems, the MIPD paints a picture of Americans' evolving issue attention over time. There are two datasets connected to the MIPD:

a) MIPD: This dataset contains individual-level responses (from over 670 surveys totaling almost a million respondents) to the MIP question, in addition to demographics, partisan preferences (including vote intention, previous vote, ideology and party identification), approval (general approval and approval of specific policies), economic evaluations (both retrospective and prospective, personal and national), and party competency (best party to address MIP, best party to address specific problems). We code the MIP responses into three coding schemes to ease the incorporation of other datasets: manifesto research group, the comparative agendas project, and Matt Singer's (2011) coding scheme. In addition to being the largest possible data collection of individual-level responses dealing with issue attention, we could certainly envision other uses of the dataset ranging from studies of vote intention, party competency, and partisan rationalization.

b) MIPD Aggregate: This dataset contains the aggregate percentage (weighted by population weights, if available) of respondents identifying that problem as the MIP. These aggregate data are available monthly, quarterly, and annually. This dataset would be a valuable component in an overall portrait of dynamic representation, and in observing how public opinion shifts in response to changing domestic and foreign circumstances.

The data are available from my website (http://faculty.missouri.edu/williamslaro/mipdata.html ) or from my Dataverse (https://dataverse.harvard.edu/dataverse/laronwilliams ).

If you use it, please cite: Colton Heffington, Brandon Beomseob Park and Laron K. Williams (forthcoming). "The 'Most Important Problem' Dataset (MIPD): A New Dataset on American Issue Importance", Conflict Management and Peace Science.

Thanks in advance. Feel free to contact me if you have any questions!

Laron

[briatte]

New link: https://williamslaro.github.io/mipdata.html

Cool example for e.g. time series.