How often do you follow what's going on in government and public affairs?

Interest in public affairs · Asked in 21 waves, 1964–2008 · 34,626 responses · weighted estimates computed from individual responses

1960, 1962 answers are loaded as anes:VCF0313_1960: 1960 and 1962 asked how closely people follow politics on a three-point scale; from 1964 the item asks how often people follow government and public affairs on a four-point scale (codebook 1960 note). Codes that include 'no Pre/Post IW' were dropped for respondents without that interview. Dropped only in years where the codebook names a design split (alternate form, half sample, abbreviated or web instrument): 0 in 1972, 1984, 2008. Kept and flagged: 0 (no_answer), 9 (dk). Codebook notes: 1960 NOTE: Only three response categories were available, corresponding to codes 1, 3, and 4. 1962 NOTE: same as 1960. 1962 NOTE 2: The DK category was not present 2008 NOTE: This question was administered to a random half sample of respondents (verion ‘OLD’); the remaining respondents were administered an alternative version of the question (version ‘NEW’). A half-sample of respondents were administered this question with response options in reverse order. This question was present in both the pre and post. The pre version is represented here. 2016 NOTE: The 2016 version of this question was not comparable.