The March Political Survey was conducted by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press from March 7–11, 2012, with a nationally representative sample of 1,503 U.S. adults. Interviews were conducted via RDD (random-digit dial) samples of landlines and cell phones, including cell-only households.
The dataset provides multiple weighting variables:
WEIGHT — for the full combined landline + cell sample (default for Pew reports).
LLWEIGHT — for analysis of the landline-only RDD sample (excludes cell respondents).
COWEIGHT — for analysis of landline + cell-only respondents (excludes dual users reached by cell).
Geographic identifiers are primarily based on self-reported ZIP codes (introduced in 2008 for higher accuracy). For missing or unmatched cases, the sample frame geography was applied. Original sample geography variables (s-prefixed) are retained for archival use.
To ensure respondent confidentiality, telephone numbers, county of residence, and ZIP codes were removed from the dataset.