Harvard Youth Poll: 63% of young adults support stricter gun laws

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A national poll of America’s 18-to-29-year-olds conducted between March 13 and March 23, 2023 by the Institute of Politics at Harvard Kennedy School indicates that more than three-in-five (63%) believe our gun laws should be stricter — including a majority of young people in college and not in college; a majority of young white, Black, Hispanic and Asian-Americans; a majority of males and females; and a majority of those living in urban areas, suburbs, and small towns. CONTINUED

Institute of Politics, Harvard Kennedy School

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Biden Overall Approval at 40%, Key Issue Ratings Lackluster

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President Joe Biden’s latest job approval rating is 40%, his sixth consecutive reading in the 40% to 42% range. Biden is also underwater in ratings of his handling of four issues — the environment (43% of Americans approve), energy policy (38%), foreign affairs (38%) and the economy (32%). …

Biden has consistently had overall job approval ratings of 78% or higher among Democrats, including the latest, 87%, while his ratings among Republicans have been below 8% since August 2021, including 3% in the current poll. CONTINUED

Megan Brenan, Gallup

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In 2024 Republicans may complete a historic foreign policy reversal

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The GOP in 2024 is moving toward a reprise of its most consequential foreign policy debate ever in a presidential primary. Only this time, the results may be reversed.

The 1952 GOP presidential nomination fight proved a turning point in the party’s history, when Dwight Eisenhower, a champion of internationalism and alliance with Europe to contain the Soviet Union, defeated Sen. Robert Taft, a skeptic of international alliances who wanted to shift America’s focus from defending Europe toward confronting communist China. …

After Eisenhower’s landmark victory over Taft in 1952, every Republican presidential nominee over the next six decades – a list that extended from Richard Nixon through Ronald Reagan to George W. Bush, John McCain and Mitt Romney – identified more with the internationalist than isolationist wing of the party.

But Trump broke that streak when he won the nomination in 2016 behind a message of brusque economic nationalism and skepticism of international alliances. Now, the GOP appears on track for a 2024 nomination fight which may demonstrate that Trump’s rise has lastingly shifted the party’s balance of power on foreign policy – and ended the long era of GOP internationalism Eisenhower’s victory began. CONTINUED

Ronald Brownstein, CNN

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New poll highlights sharp divide between Trump’s base and other voters

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Democratic lawmakers are calling out former President Trump for inciteful rhetoric against federal officials and prosecutors, while new polling shows Trump is losing support among swing voters.

PBS NewsHour

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Iowa: Over 60% support legal abortion as state Supreme Court considers restrictions

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A majority of Iowans believe abortion should be legal in most or all cases, according to a new Des Moines Register/Mediacom Iowa Poll.

Sixty-one percent of Iowa adults say abortion should be legal in all or most cases, while 35% say the procedure should be illegal in most or all cases. …

The Iowa Poll has measured Iowans’ views of abortion seven times since 2008. The percentage of Iowans supporting legal abortion has risen or remained the same in all but one poll, in March 2020, climbing from a low of 48% in September 2008 to its peak in October and now. CONTINUED

Katie Akin, Des Moines Register [via Yahoo]

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America Pulls Back From Values That Once Defined It, WSJ-NORC Poll Finds

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Patriotism, religious faith, having children and other priorities that helped define the national character for generations are receding in importance to Americans, a new Wall Street Journal-NORC poll finds. The survey, conducted with NORC at the University of Chicago, a nonpartisan research organization, also finds the country sharply divided by political party over social trends such as the push for racial diversity in businesses and the use of gender-neutral pronouns. …

It asked whether society had gone far enough—or had gone too far—when it comes to businesses taking steps to promote racial and ethnic diversity. Just over half of Republicans said society had gone too far, compared with 7% of Democrats. Some 61% of Democrats said diversity efforts hadn’t gone far enough, compared with 14% of Republicans.

Three quarters of Republicans said society had gone too far in accepting people who are transgender, while 56% of Democrats said society hadn’t gone far enough. CONTINUED

Aaron Zitner, Wall Street Journal

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