The 2004 American National Election Study was conducted by the Center for Political Studies of the Institute for Social Research, at the University of Michigan. This study is part of a time-series collection of national surveys fielded continuously since 1952. The election studies are designed to present data on Americans' social backgrounds, enduring political predispositions, social and political values, perceptions and evaluations of groups and candidates, opinions on questions of public policy, and participation in political life.
The 2004 National Election Study entailed both a pre-election interview and a post-election re-interview. A freshly drawn cross section of the electorate was taken to yield 1,212 cases. The 70-minute pre-election survey went into the field September 7th, approximately eight weeks before Election Day. No interviewing was conducted on Election Day, November 2nd. The 65-minute post-election study went into the field the day after the election, November 3rd, and remained in the field until December 20th.