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  • short reads

    Little Change in Public’s Response to ‘Capitalism,’ ‘Socialism’

    The recent Occupy Wall Street protests have focused public attention on what organizers see as the excesses of America’s free market system, but perceptions of capitalism have changed little since early 2010 despite the recent tumult. Half of all Americans have a positive view of capitalism, while 40% react negatively to the term.

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    Little Change in Public’s Response to ’Capitalism,’ ’Socialism’

    Overview The recent Occupy Wall Street protests have focused public attention on what organizers see as the excesses of America’s free market system, but perceptions of capitalism – and even of socialism – have changed little since early 2010 despite the recent tumult. The American public’s take on capitalism remains mixed, with just slightly more […]

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    Tax System Seen as Unfair, in Need of Overhaul

    Overview Public dissatisfaction with the tax system has grown over the past decade, and the focus of the public’s frustration is not how much they themselves pay, but rather the impression that wealthy people are not paying their fair share. The number of Americans who feel they pay more than their fair share in federal […]

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    About the Survey

    The analysis in this report is based on telephone interviews conducted December 7-11, 2011 among a national sample of 1,521 adults, 18 years of age or older, living in all 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia (914 respondents were interviewed on a landline telephone, and 607 were interviewed on a cell phone, including […]

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    Frustration with Congress Could Hurt Republican Incumbents

    Overview Public discontent with Congress has reached record levels, and the implications for incumbents in next year’s elections could be stark. Two-in-three voters say most members of Congress should be voted out of office in 2012 – the highest on record. And the number who say their own member should be replaced matches the all-time […]

  • short reads

    Confidence in Democracy and Capitalism Wanes in Former Soviet Union

    Large majorities of people in three former Soviet republics — Russia (82%), Lithuania (91%) and Ukraine (95%) — believe that politicians far more than ordinary people have benefited from the changes that have taken place in their countries since the collapse of the Soviet Union.

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    Re-Counting Poverty

    The November 2011 issuance by the U.S. Census Bureau of a new Supplemental Poverty Measure has rekindled interest in questions that have been raised at various times over the nearly half century since the first official measures were published. This posting explores the perceived flaws of the official poverty measures, as well as the features of the unofficial alternative measure recently unveiled by the Census Bureau and the broader issues raised by the contrast between the two.

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    Cohabiting Couples and Their Money

    Money-sharing by cohabiting couples is the topic of this article, which focuses on the Census Bureau’s new alternative measure of poverty. Cohabiting couples are much less likely to be considered poor under the alternative measure than the official measure of poverty’; the major reason is that the alternative measure assumes such couples share expenses, while the official measure assumes they are separate economic units.

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    Obama Job Approval Improves, GOP Contest Remains Fluid

    Overview With much of the recent political focus on the ever-changing Republican presidential nomination race, Barack Obama’s job rating has improved modestly over the past month. And a majority of Americans continue to hold a favorable personal opinion of Obama. This is not the case for his main GOP rivals, whom he mostly bests in […]

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    Comparing Two Census Measures of Poverty

    The Census Bureau has just published the results from its new alternative measure of poverty, called the Supplemental Poverty Measure, and they differ notably from the poverty rates shown by the official measure that’s been used since the 1960s. A new report by the Pew Hispanic Center compares results under both measures for key demographic groups.

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