This appendix presents tabulations of various demographic, political, and other characteristics from the primary surveys analyzed in this book (referred to as the 2004 and 2008 surveys). All tabulations from these surveys are of raw (unweighted) survey data, which are compared with tabulations from other surveys and sources. Breakdowns of demographic characteristics in the population of voters in the 2004 and 2008 general elections are taken from the U.S. Census Current Population Survey's (CPS) “Voting and Registration in the Election of November 2004” and “Voting and Registration in the Election of 2008” tables using only respondents in the “reported voted” category. Political information comparisons are made with the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press report titled “What Americans Know: 1989-2007” and the American National Election Studies (ANES) Time Series Studies for 2004 and 2008.

As discussed in the main text of the book, the 2004 survey was not designed to be nationally representative, having fewer minorities and generally being more educated and politically informed. The survey was drawn from the Polimetrix PollingPoint panel, but was not extensively matched or stratified for representativeness. Furthermore, the 2004 survey's sampling design was such that it included at least 100 respondents from each state, which caused smaller states to be significantly overrepresented. Accordingly, results from the 2004 survey should be interpreted with some caution, particularly with regard to making generalizations to the population of all American voters.