Numbers, Facts and Trends Shaping Your World
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Foreword and Overview Foreword In 1987, we embarked on an ambitious project to better understand the nature of American politics. We identified a broad range of beliefs and values that underlie common political labels and that ultimately drive political action. A voter typology emerged from this effort which classifies the electorate into distinct groupings, defined […]
Cynicism Waning Americans are less cynical about politics than they were five years ago. More people now say that they can influence the political process, and fewer people see their elected officials as inattentive to their needs. Almost three-quarters (73%) agree that voting gives them some say in how the government runs things a […]
A Small Boost for McCain Little has changed over the past month in the races for the Democratic and Republican presidential nominations. Recent news coverage of problems with Gore’s campaign has done little to hurt him among Democrats, who continue to support him by a nearly two-to-one margin over Bradley (60% vs. 31%). In the […]
The Voters’ Agenda The public appears ready to extend the congressional debate concerning the regulation of health maintenance organizations (HMOs) to the presidential campaign. When asked to name the one issue they most want to hear the presidential candidates discuss, nearly one-in-five people mention issues related to health care. An additional 14% cite Social Security; […]
Introduction and Summary There is little public support for a plan to give the president a pay raise for the first time since 1969. When told that the president’s salary has not been increased since 1969, 49% favor a pay raise for the next president to take office, while 39% oppose it. But when people […]
Presidential Politics For all the support Democrats get on the issues, interest in continuing the policies and programs of the Clinton administration has begun to ebb. As the Clinton administration enters its final 18 months, Americans express less enthusiasm for a continuation of the Clinton policy agenda than they did four months ago. Just 43% […]
By Chris Galdieri Local news may not really look the same everywhere, but newscasts often make the same mistakes. Local news experts and project researchers looked at some of the more in-depth pieces in the study and found that even many of them fell prey to some chronic bad habits. Here is a catalogue of […]
Introduction and Summary The anomalies of American public opinion continue even as the impeachment trial fades into history. Today, the public view of the state of the nation is much improved, despite the fact that a major component of that view — trust in government — remains low. Politically, the public expresses negative views of […]
Spike in National Mood The public’s sense of how well the country is doing has finally caught up with Americans’ positive ratings of their own lives. In fact, the national mood is better today than at any time since the 1960s, and the public is even more optimistic about the future. Nearly one-in-three Americans give […]
Introduction and Summary President Clinton’s impeachment trial has neither engaged the attention of the American public nor changed its mind about the continuance of his presidency. The public gives Clinton high marks for his job performance, expresses satisfaction with the state of the nation and registers even more contentment with their own lives than just […]