Public Opinion Analysis – By Glynn Wilson – WASHINGTON, D.C. — Are you feeling basically optimistic or pessimistic about 2023 as we head into the new year? It’s understandable why people would be careful about predicting a great year ahead considering everything that’s happened in the U.S. and the world since 2016. If you are…
By Glynn Wilson – The American public is gradually turning against the big California technology companies and is coming around to the view that more government regulation of big tech and the internet is warranted, according to the latest Gallup poll on the subject. A large majority of 57 percent of Americans now say the…
Staff Report – WASHINGTON, D.C. — A majority of registered voters in the United States, 56 percent, believe President Donald Trump does not deserve to be reelected, while just 43 percent say he does, according to the latest Gallup poll on the subject. The percentage of voters who say Trump deserves reelection to a second…
U.S. Party Preferences Swing Sharply To Democrats – By Glynn Wilson – Gallup’s latest polling reveals the damage President Donald J. Trump has done to the Republican Party and indicates the presidential and U.S. Senate elections in 2020 are the Democrats to lose with less than four months to go. While Trump seemed to be…
By Glynn Wilson – America will be celebrating independence in a few weeks on July 4 and holding an election in a few months on Nov. 3, so this seems like a good time to assess where we are psychologically after three and a half months of dealing with the coronavirus pandemic and economic recession,…
“The necessaries of life for man in this climate may, accurately enough, be distributed under the several heads of Food, Shelter, Clothing, and Fuel; for not till we have secured these are we prepared to entertain the true problems of life with freedom and a prospect of success.” – Henry David Thoreau, Walden The Big…
By Glynn Wilson – The Trump administration’s partisan war on the environment is taking its toll not only on public lands and the planet. A new Gallup poll shows that and the booming economy due to the Obama administration’s policies are driving public opinion away from unregulated economic growth and toward more environmental protection. By…
By Glynn Wilson – As the Trump administration prepares to fight in court to gut existing health care for millions of Americans by invalidating the Affordable Care Act, and Democrats prepare to campaign in 2020 on health care as a key priority, Gallup’s annual survey of the chief problems of concern to Americans shows once…
Staff Report – WASHINGTON, D.C. — While the future of any proposed Green New Deal in Congress may be somewhat politically controversial, a significant majority of Americans, 60 percent, support dramatically reducing the nation’s use of fossil fuels over the next two decades as a way to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and address the growing…
By Glynn Wilson – The level of trust Americans have of the federal government’s ability to handle problems has sunk to the lowest point in more than two decades, according to a new survey from the Gallup Poll. Only 35 percent of Americans have “a great deal” or “a fair amount” of trust and confidence…
ANALYSIS – By Glynn Wilson – People don’t put much trust in public opinion polls since the debacle of 2016, and admittedly, obtaining reliable data on mass public attitudes these days can be difficult. But the results of social science survey research are still important in a democracy as a snapshot of public attitudes at…
By Robert Reich – Before I turn to Jared Kushner, let me ask: Do you believe the U.S. government does the right thing all or most of the time? The Gallup organization started asking this question in 1963, when over 70 percent of Americans said they did. Since then, the percent has steadily declined. By…
You can’t report ‘both sides’ and be ‘accurate.’ It’s a fallacy – By Glynn Wilson – This morning and this week I feel a little bit like Ernest Hemingway as depicted in the movie “Papa: Hemingway in Cuba” based on his life there. That is to say I am having trouble writing a lede sentence…
By Glynn Wilson – Former President Barack Obama tops President Donald Trump as America’s “most admired man” for 2017, the 10th consecutive year Mr. Obama has received the accolade, according to public opinion polls from Gallup. The annual survey done every year save one since 1946 asks people to name their most admired man and…
By Glynn Wilson – WASHINGTON, D.C. — The shrinking popularity of President Donald Trump and the public pronouncements and policies of his administration are creating a boost for Democrats that could play out to their advantage going into the 2018 mid-term election cycle. A Gallup poll just released shows a significant increase in the American…
By Glynn Wilson – President Donald Trump’s job approval rating took another nose dive this week down to 36 percent, according to the latest Gallup poll, in the wake of the failure of House Republican leaders to muster the votes to pass a new healthcare bill that would have repealed and replaced the Affordable Care…
By Glynn Wilson – In spite of false rhetoric from Republican politicians in the United States and fake news claiming there is no such thing as global warming, a record number of Americans are concerned about climate change due to global warming, they believe it is occurring now and consider it a serious threat, and…
By Glynn Wilson – As Donald J. Trump prepares to take the oath of office on Jan. 20, less than half of Americans say they are confident in his ability to handle the duties of a president of the United States. According to the latest Gallup poll on the subject, only 44 percent of respondents…
The Big Picture – By Glynn Wilson – Like it or not, we live in Trump’s America now. And it looks a whole lot like Alabama. Thank you Jeff Sessions, George W. Bush and George Wallace for setting the stage for this. Thank you Democratic Party for being so pathetically weak and inept. Sorry for…
By Juan Cole – Informed Comment – I argued that President Obama’s carbon-reduction plan wasn’t anything to write home about. He want to reduce our annual emissions from 5.4 billion metric tons of CO2 annually from the US to 4.7 billion metric tons by 2030. It isn’t an insignificant reduction, but it doesn’t at all…
