Economic Policy

A deeper examination of views about key science topics by members of the American Association for the Advancement of Science

Despite broadly similar views about the overall place of science in America, there are striking differences between the public and scientists’ views on a host of science-related issues, from whether genetically modified foods are safe to eat to whether the world’s growing population will be a major problem.

Despite their increasingly upbeat economic mood, Europeans show growing support for nontraditional political parties critical of the EU.

Here’s a roundup of our most-visited blog posts over the past year, along with some insights into the editorial thinking behind them.

This presentation examines American and German attitudes toward each other and their respective geopolitical roles. This report is based on telephone surveys in the United States and Germany. In the U.S., interviews were conducted February 26 to March 1, 2015 among a national sample of 1,003 persons, 18 years of age or older. In Germany, […]

Benjamin Franklin popularized the sentiment that nothing is certain “except death and taxes.” But the public isn’t too keen on the current federal tax system, with 59% saying there is so much wrong that Congress should completely change it (38% say it works pretty well and needs only minor changes). As April 15 rolls around […]

Survey Report The public sees the nation’s tax system as deeply flawed: 59% say “there is so much wrong with the federal tax system that Congress should completely change it.” Just 38% think the system “works pretty well” and requires “only minor changes.” These opinions have changed little since 2011. With the April 15 filing […]

Survey Report The public makes sharp distinctions about which groups have benefited – and which have not – from the economic policies the government has put in place since the start of the recession. Majorities say that large banks, large corporations and the wealthy have been helped a great deal or a fair amount by […]

NASA continues to be very popular among the public, with four times as many Americans holding a favorable view of the space agency as unfavorable (68% vs. 17%).

While the $467.5 billion deficit projection for fiscal 2015 is the lowest since 2007, the nonpartisan agency predicts higher deficits in the years to come. Meanwhile, the public’s concerns about reducing the deficit have varied over the past two decades, according to the Pew Research Center’s annual policy priorities surveys.