Numbers, Facts and Trends Shaping Your World

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Politics

  • short reads

    Lessons from the last government shutdown

    The 1995-1996 government shutdowns didn’t help the GOP’s image, but the party had lost support among the public well before they happened.

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    Continued Support for Keystone XL Pipeline

    Overview Most Americans (65%) continue to favor building the Keystone XL pipeline, perhaps the most politically contentious energy issue in Barack Obama’s second term. Yet when it comes to another issue making headlines – a proposal to tighten greenhouse gas emissions from power plants – the public favors stricter limits, by exactly the same margin […]

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    Blame for Both Sides as Possible Government Shutdown Approaches

    Overview If the federal government shuts down because Republicans and the Obama administration fail to agree on a budget, there will be plenty of blame to go around. About as many say they would blame the Republicans (39%) for such a standoff as say they would blame Obama (36%), with 17% volunteering that both would […]

  • short reads

    Boehner’s hard line on budget is in step with GOP primary voters

    This week, House Speaker John Boehner agreed to tie funding of the government to defunding Obamacare, as conservative members of his caucus have demanded. This proposal may be unlikely to survive the Democratic-controlled Senate, not to mention the president’s veto pen, but recent Pew Research Center surveys show that it is clearly in step with […]

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    Republicans Sour on Ben Bernanke

    Survey Report As Ben Bernanke prepares to step down as chairman of the Federal Reserve in January, the public views him somewhat more favorably (38%) than unfavorably (31%), with 32% unable to offer a rating. Bernanke is better known now than he was in March 2008, when 55% could not rate him; at that time, […]