Get selected value of a dropdown's item using jQuery

Question

How can I get the selected value of a dropdown box using jQuery?
I tried using

var value = $(\'#dropDownId\').val();

and

Answer 1

var value = $('#dropDownId:selected').text()

Should work fine, see this example:

$(document).ready(function(){ 
  $('#button1').click(function(){ 
    alert($('#combo :selected').text());
  });
});

  Test 1
  Test 2