Numbers, Facts and Trends Shaping Your World
A history-making blizzard, major developments in the health care debate and a new set of unemployment numbers all made news last week. But they were overwhelmed by the situation in the Mideast. The dramatic events in Egypt set a new high water mark for international coverage.
As Congress begins with a new Republican majority in the House of Representatives, about a third (34%) of Americans approve of GOP congressional leaders’ policies and plans for the future; 43% disapprove. Public approval of Republican plans has declined by seven points since the party won back the House in November’s election; two months ago […]
The arrest of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange and the death of Elizabeth Edwards both received substantial coverage, but it was the reaction to a compromise on the expiring Bush-era tax cuts that really galvanized the press last week.
Eight-in-ten Americans (81%) say their state is currently facing budget problems, and 36% say the problems in their state are very serious. At the other end of the spectrum, 20% say their state either has no budget problems (12%) or that the problems are not too serious (8%). There has been virtually no change in […]
Three stories topped the news last week—the economy, the aftermath of the 2010 midterms and the president’s trip to Asia—and all three involved narratives that were not positive for President Obama. The week’s other top stories included a cruise gone awry and a former president resurfacing on the media circuit to pitch his new book.
The economy topped the news for the sixth straight week, while a string of tragedies—the death of a top diplomat, the suicide of Bernie Madoff’s son, and the suicide of an unstable Florida gunman—also made headlines. And health care, after months of absence, returned to the news in a significant way.
Overview With the public giving subpar approval ratings to President Obama and continuing to express negative views of Congress and the political parties, it goes its own way on many of the remaining issues before the lame-duck Congress. In a survey conducted before Obama and GOP leaders agreed to temporarily extend all Bush-era tax cuts, […]
Summary of Findings The 9/11 terrorist attacks drew more public interest than any other story in the past decade. In October 2001, a month after the attacks, 78% said they were following news about the story very closely, up slightly from the week after the attacks (74%). The devastating hurricanes that hit the Gulf Coast […]