Things keep getting worse. Not just for the country, which has endured unrelenting cycles of bad news for a decade now, but for President Obama, whose entire presidency has been defined by negative forces, most of which are beyond his control. A look at the new polls that greet Obama Tuesday morning, and this is the only conclusion to …
Polls
Mutually Assured Revulsion: Why Americans Hated the Debt Debate and Why It’s Not Going to Change
Pew came out with a new poll on Monday confirming what we all already knew: The American people think the last several weeks in Washington have been a disgrace. In fact, the words most often volunteered to the pollsters were …
The Debt Fight and Public Opinion
Two smart points about how the circus in Washington is being viewed by American voters:
Indeed, pollsters have warned that what’s unique about this crisis is the consequences are so big but the facts also so new to the average American. That’s because Washington has never quite had a debt ceiling fight like this one and
…
If Debt Talks Fail, Who Gets the Blame?
That’s essentially the political query of the moment and CBS News polled the precursor to that question:
More Americans disapprove than approve of how President Barack Obama is handling the negotiations with members of Congress
…
The Heart of Conservative Values: Not Where It Used to Be?
The Public Religion Research Institute released a report on Thursday about the Millennial generation (roughly those ages 18 to 29) and where they stand in today’s culture wars, particularly concerning abortion and religion. One finding was that Americans in general, and particularly Millennials, have “decoupled” part of the traditional …
Would Newt Gingrich Be Better Off Running As a Gay Man?
[Updated below, 5:25pm] The Pew Research Center released some fascinating new findings Thursday on voter opinions about the 2012 field. (Short take: they’re not terribly psyched). I’ll have more to say later on the question of whether voters are willing to vote for a Mormon. But data on two other candidate traits jumped off the page as I …
The American Political Landscape: More Interesting Than You Thought
In political journalism, we tend to divide the electorate into three categories, though the categories often go by different names. Right, middle, left. Republican, independent, Democratic. Conservative, moderate, liberal. Fox …
What Polling on Medicare and Paul Ryan’s Plan Really Tells Us
One poll on health care policy can’t tell you much, but the Kaiser Family Foundation’s April tracking survey, conducted in wake of Paul Ryan’s proposal to remake federal entitlement programs and amid a stir of town halls unease, is pretty instructive. In this case, the usual caveats that accompany such data — question wording matters, …
