Democracy Fund Voter Study Group to Release Full Dataset of Second VOTER Survey

For Immediate Release

April 16, 2018

Lauren Strayer
media@voterstudygroup.org
(202) 420-7928

Jack D’Amato
media@voterstudygroup.org
(404) 995-4500

Democracy Fund Voter Study Group to Release Full Dataset of Second VOTER Survey

Public opinion data on the evolving views of American voters one year into the Trump Administration will be made available to the public today

Washington D.C. – April 16, 2018

The Democracy Fund Voter Study Group, a research collaboration of nearly two dozen analysts and scholars from across the political spectrum, is releasing the full longitudinal dataset of the second volume of its VOTER survey to the public. Joe Goldman, Democracy Fund president, said “We want to make this data available to scholars, journalists, students of politics, and anyone who wants to conduct their own studies of American voters’ attitudes in these tumultuous political times. The VOTER surveys offer a snapshot of voters’ opinions that we think will be valuable to researchers for years to come.”

Conducted by YouGov in July 2017, the latest VOTER Survey consists of responses from 5,000 individuals, all of whom participated in surveys conducted in 2011, 2012 and 2016. The VOTER Survey dataset allows for a deep exploration of the issues and values that motivated supporters of Donald Trump in the 2016 Presidential election and his administration. The participants were polled on a variety of topics including:

• Trade
• Immigration
• Presidential Powers & Democratic Values
• Perspectives on various ethnic, social, and political groups
• Nationalism, and the nature of American identity
• State of our political and economic system
• Healthcare
• Gender roles
• LGBTQ rights

Dissecting the robust dataset, Voter Study Group members produced three deep-dive analyses into topics that define our society today:

• Follow the Leader: Exploring American Support for Democracy and Authoritarianism - Lee Drutman, Larry Diamond, and Joe Goldman's report examined the degree to which Americans are open to departures from democracy, and their motivations behind endorsing authoritarian alternatives.
• Party Hoppers: Understanding Voters Who Switched Partisan Affiliation - Robert Griffin’s report explored the increase in partisan switching and constructed a portrait of voters who changed their party affiliation in the 2016 presidential election.
• The First Six Months: How Americans are Reacting to the Trump Administration - Robert Griffin's insights spotlighted voter attitudes toward the new administration, the direction of the country, and other topics from Trump's first six months in office.

The Voter Study Group is releasing the 2017 VOTER Survey dataset to the public and encouraging it to be used with citation. The full dataset, as well as a guide to using the data, can be found here.