Opposition to Current Health Bills; But Desire for Legislation More Americans continue to oppose (50%) than favor (38%) the health care bills currently being discussed in Congress. Opposition to health care legislation has been relatively stable in recent months, with opponents outnumbering supporters by similar margins in five of the last six Pew Research surveys […]
As 2010 begins, Americans are divided about whether they are more likely to vote for the Democratic or Republican candidate in the midterm congressional elections in November. The public gives relatively poor ratings to the leaders of both parties in Congress and only one-quarter say Obama and GOP leaders in Congress are working together to […]
Democrats Lose Favorability Edge The favorability advantage the Democratic Party has held over the Republican Party has disappeared over the past year. Currently, 48% of Americans offer a favorable assessment of the Democratic Party, while 46% view the GOP favorably. This reflects a combination of a steep decline in the Democratic Party’s image over the […]
After a year of passionate debate, health-care reform dominated the news agenda last week leading up to a key vote by the House of Representatives, with the media focused on head counts, horse trading and the political calculus for legislators. No other story came close, but the economy once again finished as runner up.
Parents’ and teens’ overall assessment of the role of cell phones in their lives Parents and teens have quite similar overall attitudes about the role of cell phones in their lives, though teens are more likely to salute the upside of constant connectivity and bemoan the downside. Perpetual availability breeds safety – or at least […]
Over the past year, the Tea Party movement has emerged on the political scene. A majority of the public has heard about the Tea Party protests that have taken place in the U.S. and about a quarter of Americans say they agree with the movement. Tea Party backers overwhelmingly identify with or lean to the […]
Newspaper coverage of the Catholic clergy sexual abuse scandal grew more intense this spring than at any time since 2002, and European newspapers devoted even more ink to the story than American papers did, according to a new study by the Pew Research Center. The heavy coverage in Europe was a reversal of the pattern […]
The media’s attention was divided between Port au Prince and Massachusetts last week, and the two stories highlighted significant differences in editorial priorities, particularly in the cable news universe. Meanwhile, Barack Obama’s one-year anniversary as President triggered a wave of evaluations that tended toward the bearish.
In the wake of the failed terrorist attack on a jetliner on Christmas Day, the public has become far more concerned that anti-terrorism policies fail to protect the country – and far less concerned that they restrict civil liberties. In the current survey, 58% say their greater concern is that government anti-terrorism policies have not […]
The media last week were focused squarely on politicians. While Obama’s health care gamble was the top story, Jim Bunning’s quixotic Senate crusade, a Texas gubernatorial primary and the resignation of a powerful House committee chairman were also big news. The only non-politics story in the top five was the tragedy in Chile.