Business and Labor

Overview The latest Pew Research Center News IQ survey finds the American public reasonably well-informed about a number of basic facts pertaining to the current economic situation. Fully 83% know that the government assistance to banks and other financial institutions is aimed at getting them to lend more money, not less money. Roughly seven-in-ten (71%) […]

We love the free market, but fear corporations and global competition, and depend on Uncle Sam to keep us safe.

A look at the attitudes of the regular buyers and sellers who make the stock market go up and down finds they are, among other things, even more likely to support the frontrunners in both the Democratic and Republican primaries.

Seven Democratic candidates met on Soldier Field in Chicago on Tuesday to address a predominantly union audience at a candidate forum sponsored by the AFL-CIO. How did candidate views stack up with public opinion?

Leading Democrats have attacked the employment practices of Wal-Mart, but the party's rank-and-file is divided about the company. Liberals are negative, while conservatives and moderates have a positive view.

Several leading Democrats have launched election-year attacks on Wal-Mart, criticizing the company for providing what they say are inadequate wages and employee health care benefits. Yet the party’s rank-and-file is deeply divided in opinions about Wal-Mart, with liberal Democrats taking a much more negative view of the company than do moderate and conservative Democrats. Most […]

On April 10th Governor Mike Huckabee added Arkansas to the growing list of states with minimum wage levels above $5.15 an hour. With this act, a majority of Americans now live in states that have enacted wage minimums above the federal floor. The political impetus behind this and other state actions is easily discerned — […]

Republican or Democrat, rich or poor, north, east, south or west, the U.S. public says it's time for a big boost for the lowest paid.

Summary of Findings As shoppers flock to the stores for holiday gifts, some express mixed feelings about the nation’s largest retailer. Nearly every American lives near enough a Wal-Mart to shop there, and 84% say they have done so in the past year. Praise for the retailer’s low prices, wide selection and convenience flow freely, […]

Summary of Findings Americans express increasingly negative views of a wide range major institutions, reflecting strong discontent with national conditions. Over the past year, ratings have tumbled for the federal government and Congress. And it is not just Washington institutions that are being viewed less positively. Favorable opinions of business corporations are at their lowest […]