Interest in Campaign News On Par With 2007
While the focus this year has been on the GOP’s race, Democrats express about as much interest in 2012 candidates as do Republicans.
Numbers, Facts and Trends Shaping Your World
While the focus this year has been on the GOP’s race, Democrats express about as much interest in 2012 candidates as do Republicans.
The Iowa caucuses produced six small but significant indicators of the dynamics that drove the race.
Republicans continue to hold a solid lead in preferences for Tuesday’s midterm elections among likely voters — enough so as to suggest they will win control of the House. The GOP owes its lead to strong backing from independents and record-levels of engagement among its partisans.
While a majority of Americans favors allowing changes to Social Security, there is very little support for replacing Medicare with a voucher system. Also, the public continues to see no clear leader atop the GOP.
The latest Congressional Connection poll finds most in the public are in no mood for political compromising. Also, Americans split evenly on which political party could best handle the economy while four-in-ten say eliminating tax cuts for the wealthy would hurt the economy.
Pluralities say that coverage of poor people and Muslims is too negative, while somewhat smaller percentages say the same about coverage of blacks and Hispanics. About a third say that coverage of wealthy people is too positive — the highest percentage for any group tested.
Dysfunctional. Corrupt. Selfish. It’s not hard to guess what these words are describing. Examine a word cloud to see what the public thinks of Congress.
A look at the connection between the rise and fall of joblessness and the political fortunes of past presidents in the modern era is instructive although the lessons to be drawn are far from crystal clear. Thus far, only Ronald Reagan’s ratings in his first term have borne as close a connection as have Obama’s to changes in the unemployment rate.
In April, 62% of the public approved of Barack Obama’s performance as president, but in August, just four months later, 52% approved. Obama’s approval rating has declined across nearly all major demographic and political groups.
Perhaps the best way to think about public opinion and its relationship to politics and policymaking is that the American public is typically short on facts, but often long on judgment.
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