The American Association for Public Opinion Research (AAPOR) has launched Survey Practice, an on-line magainze intended to “provide good, sound information to new survey researchers, be relatively flexible, be able to address current issues, and be easy to read.”
See especially this piece by political scientists George Bishop and Stephen Mockabee, which documents how the public’s mood has not only grown more pessimistic — a widely known finding — but also become more strongly linked to its assessment of President Bush. Thus, the “meaning” of the public’s mood has changed somewhat over time, becoming more clearly a referendum on the Bush presidency rather than a more apolitical statement about the country.