Starting in fall 2022, IPOL began working to enter and analyze data from some recently unearthed Iowa Polls from the 1940s through the 1980s (see background story). This academic year we are working with Iowa Poll #229 from 1978 (month unknown). As often seems to be the case, topics asked about decades ago seem highly relevant today. For example, Iowa Poll asked about inflation, the Carter family, and Palestine. There are also some social interest questions about television, baseball, and people's favorite color.

Over the course of the fall eighteen students worked from a printout of the original data file to double enter all the data for Iowa Poll 229, compared the two versions, and corrected any discrepancies. We now have a complete version of the data that we plan to analyze next semester. Keep an eye out for our news releases and the full report later in the spring.