Household Telephone Service and Usage Patterns in the United states in 2004: Implications for Telephone Samples

Changes in the U.S. telephone system, especially the rapid growthin the prevalence and use of cell phones, raise concerns aboutundercoverage error in random digit dial (RDD) telephone samples.A supplement to the Current Population Survey (CPS) was conductedin 2004 to examine telephone service and usage in U.S. households.This article explores the potential for biases in RDD surveysresulting from the increases in cell phones by presenting estimatesof the percentage of households with different types of telephoneservice, including the percentage of cell-only households, andgiving demographic profiles of households by type of telephoneservice. Logistic regression models examine variables that predictwhether households are without a telephone or only have cellphones. These predictors may be used for weighting adjustmentsto reduce undercoverage biases. We address some additional issues,including the wording of questions for measuring telephone service,that are relevant if telephone-sampling methods are revisedto include cell phones. The estimates from the CPS supplementare also used to help understand some of the new sampling andweighting problems associated with selecting samples from cellphone numbers.     

Limousine Liberals and Corporate Conservatives: The Financial Constituencies of the Democratic and Republican Parties*

Objective. This study examines the backgrounds, political attitudes, issue preferences, and political participation of congressional donors who contribute $200 or more to congressional campaigns. Methods. We use a nationwide survey of more than 1,000 donors and analyze differences among these individuals using cluster analysis. Results. Although these significant donors are economic elites, we find they are not monolithic in their political views and attitudes. There are significant cleavages in the donor pool across and within the two major parties on various political issues and involvement in different political organizations. Perhaps most important, we find that the most active donors hold the most ideologically extreme political views. Conclusions. The results suggest that the sharp cross‐party differences and the meaningful variations within party coalitions, combined with the greater activity of more ideologically extreme donors, contribute to and reflect party polarization.