General Interest in Public Affairs 1960 -2008
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| '60 | '62 | '64 | '66 | '68 | '70 | '72 | '74 | '76 | '78 | '80 | '82 | '84 | '86 | '88 | '90 | '92 | '94 | '96 | '98 | '00 | '02 | '04 | '06 | '08 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hardly at All | 37 (684) |
42 (538) |
11 (162) |
17 (221) |
18 (237) |
** | 11 (249) |
11 (278) |
12 (287) |
17 (396) |
15 (214) |
15 (208) |
14 (270) |
15 (315) |
15 (268) |
16 (318) |
11 (252) |
14 (251) |
13 (196) |
12 (149) |
16 (239) |
9 (119) |
10 (101) |
** | 12 (123) |
| Only Now and Then | - | - | 17 (244) |
18 (228) |
19 (251) |
** | 16 (347) |
14 (349) |
18 (439) |
25 (571) |
23 (328) |
21 (299) |
23 (445) |
24 (521) |
25 (449) |
23 (449) |
21 (471) |
23 (409) |
26 (397) |
25 (318) |
29 (447) |
22 (291) |
23 (246) |
** | 25 (262) |
| Some of the Time | 42 (762) |
42 (549) |
42 (602) |
30 (390) |
31 (413) |
** | 36 (791) |
36 (900) |
31 (754) |
34 (771) |
35 (488) |
35 (500) |
36 (700) |
35 (742) |
37 (649) |
33 (651) |
41 (929) |
35 (614) |
39 (587) |
37 (471) |
36 (545) |
42 (556) |
41 (437) |
** | 37 (397) |
| Most of the Time | 21 (380) |
16 (206) |
30 (439) |
35 (448) |
33 (444) |
** | 36 (799) |
39 (970) |
38 (908) |
23 (528) |
26 (370) |
29 (403) |
26 (508) |
26 (561) |
22 (395) |
27 (539) |
26 (591) |
28 (495) |
21 (321) |
27 (343) |
20 (301) |
27 (351) |
26 (274) |
** | 26 (277) |
| Don't Know | 0 (0) |
0 (0) |
0 (0) |
0 (1) |
0 (0) |
** | 0 (5) |
1 (16) |
1 (13) |
1 (14) |
0 (4) |
0 (3) |
0 (3) |
0 (9) |
0 (4) |
0 (4) |
0 (4) |
0 (2) |
0 (1) |
0 (0) |
0 (0) |
0 (0) |
0 (1) |
** | 0 (1) |
| N | 1826 | 1293 | 1447 | 1288 | 1345 | 0 | 2191 | 2513 | 2401 | 2280 | 1404 | 1413 | 1926 | 2148 | 1765 | 1961 | 2247 | 1771 | 1502 | 1281 | 1532 | 1317 | 1059 | 0 | 1060 |
Percentage Within Study Year
Table 6D.5.
Source: VCF0313 in the ANES Cumulative Data File dataset,
weighted with VCF0009z
Percent among demographic groups who responded:
Hardly At All
Only Now and Then
Some of the Time
Most of the Time
Question Text:
1964 AND LATER: "Some people seem to follow (1964: think about) what's going on in government and public affairs most of the time, whether there's an election going on or not. Others aren't that interested. Would you say you follow what's going on in government and public affairs most of the time, some of the time, only now and then, or hardly at all?"
1960, 1962: "We'd also like to know how much attention you pay to what's going on in politics generally. I mean from day to day, when there isn't any big election campaign going on, would you say you follow politics very closely, fairly closely, or not much at all?"
Note:
This question was administered to a half-sample in 2008 and was
replaced in 2012.