Report Summary

This is the fifth in a series of national surveys commissioned by Times Mirror to assess the American electorate.  The People, The Press and Politics series employs a unique voter classification scheme developed by Gallup for Times Mirror in 1987.  The overall purpose of these surveys is to provide a better understanding of voter decisions with regard to candidates and issues.  The voter typology used in this survey is briefly described in the Technical Appendix and more fully described in previous reports available from Times Mirror.

The current survey deals with the voter’s assessments of the bush-Dukakis race in the general election phase of the 1988 presidential campaign.  It utilizes the Times Mirror typology to gauge opinions of the candidates, important issues facing the nation, the Reagan Presidency, and the overall mood of the electorate.

For this survey, telephone interviews were administered to a nationally representative sample of 2,001 adults during the period from September 9-14, 1988.