{
    "slug": "gss-policy-2024",
    "source_label": "GSS (2024) — Political-policy trio (death penalty + gun permit + marijuana)",
    "source_url": "https:\/\/gss.norc.org\/get-the-data\/",
    "license": "Public domain (NSF-funded, NORC at the University of Chicago)",
    "fielded_at": "2024-06-01",
    "methodology": "survey",
    "n_respondents": 3309,
    "disclosure": {
        "license": "Public domain (NSF-funded). Required citation: Davern, Michael; Bautista, Rene; Freese, Jeremy; Herd, Pamela; and Morgan, Stephen L. General Social Survey 1972-2024. NORC ed., Chicago, 2025.",
        "weights": "Weighted to wtssps (NORC's recommended GSS 2024 post-stratification weight, person-level). High_share is the weighted proportion answering 'favor' (cappun, gunlaw) or 'legal' (grass). Dichotomous → 1-5 SSR mapping via 1 + 4 × high_share with 'depends\/dk' dropped.",
        "screener": "GSS uses an address-based national probability sample of U.S. adults 18+. The 2024 cross-section ran mixed-mode (in-person + web push). No content screener. Sampling frame and selection probability are documented in the GSS 2024 Codebook R3 (NORC). cappun and gunlaw are on the larger ballot share (n ≈ 2,070 \/ 2,191); grass is on a smaller ballot share (n ≈ 862). Don't-know \/ no-answer respondents drop from each variable's n per the standard GSS convention for these dichotomous items.",
        "fieldwork": "United States, 2024 cross-section. Fieldwork March–November 2024 per the GSS 2024 Codebook R3 (page 1). Modes: in-person and web push (push-to-web for the subsample without prior in-person contact).",
        "coding_rules": "Closed-ended forced-choice, no FGI. No moderator guide. Each respondent answers each item independently in the same wave. cappun and gunlaw have run since 1972; grass since 1973. The 'support for the policy described' framing is an SSR-axis convention — the raw codebook does not direction-flip; we direction-flip only for visualisation comparability.",
        "likert_labels": "All three items are dichotomous yes\/no. cappun: 1 = 'favor' (high), 2 = 'oppose' (low). gunlaw: 1 = 'favor' (high), 2 = 'oppose' (low). grass: 1 = 'legal' (high), 2 = 'not legal' (low). The SSR rescale puts the policy-favoring answer at anchor 5 and the policy-opposing answer at anchor 1 across all three, so the 1-5 axis reads as 'support for the policy described' regardless of which direction is conservative vs progressive.",
        "question_text": "cappun (codebook verbatim): \"Do you favor or oppose the death penalty for persons convicted of murder?\" gunlaw: \"Would you favor or oppose a law which would require a person to obtain a police permit before he or she could buy a gun?\" grass: \"Do you think the use of marijuana should be made legal or not?\""
    },
    "questions": [
        {
            "question_template_slot": "gss2024_pol_cappun",
            "prompt_text": "Do you favor or oppose the death penalty for persons convicted of murder?",
            "ground_truth_mean": 3.484,
            "ground_truth_ci_lower": 3.4,
            "ground_truth_ci_upper": 3.568,
            "ground_truth_sd": 1.941,
            "ground_truth_skewness": -0.499,
            "ground_truth_shape": "multimodal-symmetric",
            "ground_truth_distribution": {
                "5_favor_pct": 62.1,
                "1_oppose_pct": 37.9
            },
            "n_respondents": 2067,
            "weighting_notes": "Weighted to wtssps. high_share=0.621 → SSR=3.484. SSR 5 = 'favor death penalty', SSR 1 = 'oppose'. The 'conservative' answer reads at majority — a 60\/40 split rather than the 50\/50 partisan stereotype. Distribution keys are 1\/5 SSR anchors as weighted percentages."
        },
        {
            "question_template_slot": "gss2024_pol_gunlaw",
            "prompt_text": "Would you favor or oppose a law which would require a person to obtain a police permit before he or she could buy a gun?",
            "ground_truth_mean": 3.738,
            "ground_truth_ci_lower": 3.661,
            "ground_truth_ci_upper": 3.816,
            "ground_truth_sd": 1.858,
            "ground_truth_skewness": -0.793,
            "ground_truth_shape": "bimodal-asymmetric",
            "ground_truth_distribution": {
                "5_favor_pct": 68.5,
                "1_oppose_pct": 31.5
            },
            "n_respondents": 2191,
            "weighting_notes": "Weighted to wtssps. high_share=0.685 → SSR=3.738. SSR 5 = 'favor police permit before gun purchase', SSR 1 = 'oppose'. The 'progressive' regulatory answer reads at supermajority — gunlaw is the most supported item in the trio."
        },
        {
            "question_template_slot": "gss2024_pol_grass",
            "prompt_text": "Do you think the use of marijuana should be made legal or not?",
            "ground_truth_mean": 3.682,
            "ground_truth_ci_lower": 3.556,
            "ground_truth_ci_upper": 3.807,
            "ground_truth_sd": 1.881,
            "ground_truth_skewness": -0.726,
            "ground_truth_shape": "bimodal-asymmetric",
            "ground_truth_distribution": {
                "5_legal_pct": 67,
                "1_not_legal_pct": 33
            },
            "n_respondents": 862,
            "weighting_notes": "Weighted to wtssps. high_share=0.670 → SSR=3.682. SSR 5 = 'make marijuana legal', SSR 1 = 'not legal'. Smaller-ballot item (n ≈ 862 of the wave's 3,309 total). The 'progressive' deregulatory answer reads at strong supermajority."
        }
    ]
}