Numbers, Facts and Trends Shaping Your World

Politics

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    Most Say Disaster Spending Does Not Require Offsetting Cuts

    Overview As Oklahoma recovers from severe damage caused by last week’s tornado, a majority of Americans (59%) say federal spending in response to natural disasters is emergency aid that does not need to be offset by cuts to other programs, while 29% say such spending must be offset by cuts to other programs. While there […]

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    About the Survey

    The analysis in this report is based on telephone interviews conducted May 23-26, 2013 among a national sample of 1,005 adults 18 years of age or older living in the continental United States (501 respondents were interviewed on a landline telephone, and 504 were interviewed on a cell phone, including 253 who had no landline […]

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    Broad Support for Renewed Background Checks Bill, Skepticism about Its Chances

    Overview Following the Senate’s rejection of gun legislation last month, the public continues to overwhelmingly favor making private gun sales and sales at gun shows subject to background checks. Nearly three-quarters of Americans (73%) say that if the Senate bill is reintroduced, Congress should pass it. However, even gun control advocates are pessimistic that new […]

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    Partisan Interest, Reactions to IRS and AP Controversies

    Overview So far, public interest in a trio of controversies connected to the Obama administration has been limited. Roughly a quarter (26%) of Americans say they are very closely following reports that the IRS targeted conservative groups. About the same number (25%) are tracking the Benghazi investigation very closely, and even fewer (16%) are very […]

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    Race and Voting

    In the next several weeks the Supreme Court is expected to rule on the constitutionality of the requirement that several states, mostly in the South, get “pre-clearance” from the Justice Department before they make any changes to their election laws. The requirement was part of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which was an emergency […]

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    Benghazi Investigation Does Not Reignite Broad Public Interest

    Overview The public paid limited attention to last week’s congressional hearings on Benghazi. Fewer than half (44%) of Americans say they are following the hearings very or fairly closely, virtually unchanged from late January when Hillary Clinton testified. Last October, 61% said they were following the early stages of the investigation at least fairly closely. […]