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Respondent's preference to increase or decrease defense spending, asked on a 7-point scale (ANES, GSS 1980), a 5-point more/less scale (GSS), and a 3-point too little/about right/too much scale (GSS 1984); the scales need collapsing to increase versus decrease to compare.
AI-matched An AI model grouped these questions and mapped their answers onto shared categories, and a second AI review checked and corrected the grouping and mapping. No person has checked it: compare the question wordings and the answer mapping below before reading the lines against each other.
Latest: 49% answered “Increase” in ANES, 2024.
Dashed lines mark changes in how interviews were done, which can shift answers: 1. ANES → mixed mode (2016).
Shares of people whose answer maps onto these categories (non-answers and answers outside the scale are left out), because surveys differ in whether they offer “don’t know.” Each column is one survey wave, evenly spaced rather than to scale in time; hover for exact shares.
Dashed lines mark changes in how interviews were done, which can shift answers: 1. ANES → mixed mode (2016).
Shares of people whose answer maps onto these categories (non-answers and answers outside the scale are left out), because surveys differ in whether they offer “don’t know.” Each point is one survey wave at the middle of its field period. Lines from different surveys are never spliced together.
Groups differ from everyone by 13 points on average across all answers, in ANES.
| Line | Question | Match | How answers map |
|---|---|---|---|
| ANES | Defense spending scale Some people believe that we should spend much less money for defense. (1996,2004: Suppose these people are at one end of a scale, at point 1.) Others feel that defense spending should be greatly increased. (1996,2004: Suppose these people are at the other end, at point 7.) (2004: And, of course, some other people have opinions somewhere in between, at points 2,3,4,5, or 6).
Where would you place yourself on this scale or haven’t you thought much about this? (7-POINT SCALE SHOWN TO R) Caveat: Reference 7-point scale; collapsed to 3 categories, midpoint 4 treated as same | identical | Greatly decrease defense spending → Decrease; 2 → Decrease; 3 → Decrease; 4 → Same/middle; 5 → Increase; 6 → Increase; Greatly increase defense spending → Increase |
| GSS: Respondent's preferred level of defense spending | Respondent's preferred level of defense spending Some people believe that we should spend much less money for defense. Suppose these people are at one end of the scale at point number 1. Others feel that defense spending should be greatly increased. Suppose these people are at the other end, at point 7. And, of course, some other people have opinions somewhere in between at points 2, 3, 4, 5, or 6. ENTER CODE IN BOXES.
A. Where would you place yourself on this scale, or haven't you thought much about this? Caveat: Same 7-point scale; 'haven't thought much' excluded | identical | Greatly decrease → Decrease; 2 → Decrease; 3 → Decrease; 4 → Same/middle; 5 → Increase; 6 → Increase; Greatly increase → Increase |
| GSS: Spending on strengthening national defense | Spending on strengthening national defense We are faced with many problems in this country, none of which can be solved easily or inexpensively. I'm going to name some of these problems, and for each one I'd like you to tell me whether you think we're spending too much money on it, too little money, or about the right amount. First (READ ITEM A) . . . are we spending too much, too little, or about the right amount on (ITEM)?
I. Strengthening national defense |
Dashed lines mark changes in how interviews were done, which can shift answers: 1. ANES → mixed mode (2016).
Groups differ from everyone by 6 points on average across all answers, in ANES.
Dashed lines mark changes in how interviews were done, which can shift answers: 1. ANES → mixed mode (2016).
Subgroup charts are picked automatically. Of every breakdown in the data (party, ideology, age, sex, race, education, income, region, religion, and community type), these two put their groups furthest from everyone’s answers: the gap is averaged across all answer categories and waves, with each group weighted by its share of respondents. Party and ideology count as one choice, so the second chart shows a different kind of split. Groups with an effective sample under 50 in a wave are left out of that wave.
| similar |
| Too little → Increase; About right → Same/middle; Too much → Decrease |
| GSS: Government spending on defense | Government spending on defense Listed below are various areas of government spending. Please indicate whether you would like to see more or less government spending in each area. Remember that if you say "much more," it might require a tax increase to pay for it.
E. The military and defense. Caveat: 5-point more/less scale with tax-increase reminder; intensity lost on collapsing | equivalent | Spend much more → Increase; Spend more → Increase; Spend same → Same/middle; Spend less → Decrease; Spend much less → Decrease |