Numbers, Facts and Trends Shaping Your World

Politics

  • report

    Campaign and Economy Dominate News Interest

    Summary of Findings The presidential campaign continued to dominate national news coverage last week, and the public remained highly engaged in the ongoing contest. Nearly 40% of the national newshole was devoted to the campaign, and 36% of the public listed the campaign as the single news story they were following more closely than any […]

  • report

    Global Warming Falls Still Farther on Republicans’ Policy Agenda

    Republicans have long viewed the issue of global warming as a relatively unimportant issue. But this year, Republicans’ concerns about global warming have fallen through the floor. Just 12% of Republicans say that “dealing with global warming” should be a top priority for President Bush and Congress, making it by far their lowest-ranking issue. Read […]

  • report

    The South Carolina Democratic Primary in Black and White

    The results in Saturday’s Democratic primary in South Carolina offer important evidence — if not yet answers — to three big questions in this campaign: Can Barack Obama solidify all segments of the black vote behind him? Can he be competitive among white voters, especially in the South? And can we trust pre-election polls in […]

  • report

    Raising McCain

    Nearly lost in the blizzard of recent poll reports were the findings of a Gallup survey that the current Republican frontrunner, John McCain, might well give each of the two Democratic frontrunners a run for their money. When Gallup asked 1,598 likely voters whom they’d back if the presidential election were held today, respondents chose […]

  • report

    Housing Crisis More Visible Than Other Economic Problems

    Summary of Findings Public interest in economic news soared last week amid continued stock market volatility and concerns about a possible recession. More than four-in-ten Americans (42%) followed news about the condition of the U.S. economy very closely and 20% listed this as the single news story they followed more closely than any other. That […]

  • report

    An Even More Partisan Agenda for 2008

    Summary of Findings With the economy slowing and the stock market reeling, there is greater agreement among Republicans and Democrats that strengthening the nation’s economy should be a top priority for the president and Congress in the coming year. By contrast, partisan differences over the importance of other domestic issues — such as dealing with […]

  • report

    Laura Bush’s Declining Favorability

    Summary of Findings Laura Bush, once almost universally liked, has seen her favorability ratings slip along with her husband’s over the past three years. Currently, a slim majority of Americans (54%) say they have a favorable impression of the First Lady, down from 70% in August of 2004. The number saying they have an unfavorable […]

  • report

    Mind the Gender Gap

    A lot of attention has been paid to the women’s vote in the first two Democratic nominating contests. In the Iowa caucuses, Barack Obama won a narrow victory over Hillary Clinton among female voters. But in New Hampshire women rallied to the former first lady giving her a huge 46 percent to 34 percent margin, […]