ANES WEB: American National Election Studies 2018-2021

Stanford University, Stanford CA

Investigators

Abstract

The ANES Web 2020 study is designed to build upon the world's longest-running time series of survey data on the vital signs of democracy. By uncovering the determinants of vote choice and political participation in the 2020 presidential election, the 2020 ANES will yield high-quality data focusing on questions that go to the heart of democratic governance including citizens' satisfaction with their government and their ability to hold political leaders accountable. While the 2020 study continues the tradition of a fresh cross-section sample, it also includes two panel components that allow researchers to examine changes in American public opinion over an especially turbulent period of national politics. Re-interviews with 2016 ANES respondents will shed light on long-term changes in attitudes following the election of President Trump. Re-interviews with a sub-sample of respondents who completed the General Social Survey in the spring of 2020 will illuminate more short-term shifts in beliefs and opinions over the course of the 2020 campaign. Overall, the ANES 2020 study provides researchers with strong leverage over the dynamics of voter decision making. The 2020 study will continue to serve as a benchmark for research on American public opinion. The study will survey at least 3,500 Americans, recruited by mail to complete questionnaires online. These participants will be recruited in three samples: (1) a new sample of 1,200 Americans, selected and recruited using a high-response-rate protocol developed through extensive testing in 2016; (2) re-interviews with 1,400 respondents who completed the ANES interviews in 2016; (3) re-interviews with 900 respondents who completed the General Social Survey earlier in 2020. These datasets will permit groundbreaking research on many important questions that would not be possible with a single cross-sectional study, providing unique opportunities to map continuity and change in American politics. The 2020 study also extends recent and ongoing ANES efforts to reshape the trajectory of large-scale survey research with high-quality mail-to-web data collection, and features the first-ever collaboration between ANES and GSS. Sub-samples of around 500 Latinos and 500 African-Americans will exceed previous ANES studies and allow researchers to investigate the role of race in reshaping major party coalitions and as a force that propels voters to the polls. Given the powerful effects of gender on voters' attitudes in 2016, the 2020 study will continue to highlight gender-related issues in the survey instrument. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.