Poll Finds Softening of Some Americans’ Views of Events on Jan. 6, 2021

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Two years after the attack on the U.S. Capitol to disrupt President Joe Biden’s election certification on Jan. 6, 2021, a new national University of Massachusetts Amherst Poll finds Americans’ views softening on the day’s events and a growing belief that the nation should “move on” from the attack on our democracy.

The poll, conducted Jan. 5-9, found that while more than half (55%) of the 1,000 respondents say Jan. 6 was a “riot,” nearly half (49%) now say that “protest” best describes the day’s events, up from 43% in the first UMass Poll conducted on the topic in April 2021. Meanwhile, there was a marked decrease in the percentage of respondents who consider Jan. 6 an “insurrection,” from 48% to 41%. CONTINUED

University of Massachusetts Amherst

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CBS News poll: Amid concern about extreme weather events, most want Congress to fight climate change

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As Americans look ahead, more than half are pessimistic about the prospect of extreme weather events and climate, particularly those who report having faced more extreme weather in their local area in recent years. They say this experience with extreme weather has led them to be more concerned about climate change.

And climate is an issue most Americans want to see addressed by political leaders: a big majority want their representative in Congress to support efforts to fight climate change, rather than oppose such efforts. CONTINUED

Jennifer De Pinto, CBS News

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No matter their antics, voters keep reelecting the same House members

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… The phenomenon of disliking Congress intensely yet reelecting the same members election after election is so well known that political scientists have a name for it: Fenno’s paradox, named for Richard Fenno, the political scientist who first noted in the 1970s that people dislike the institution but like their own member. …

Americans are probably about to really not like Congress, with a weak Republican majority in the House, where anything that does pass likely won’t be taken up by the Democratic Senate. But all the evidence says that it won’t matter—voters will reelect 90-95 percent of the same representatives again in 2024 regardless of what chaos happens in Congress and how little legislative headway is made in the next two years. CONTINUED

Natalie Jackson, National Journal

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Nurses Retain Top Ethics Rating in U.S., but Below 2020 High

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Nurses continue to garner the highest ethics rating from Americans among a diverse list of professions, a distinction they have held for more than two decades. The 79% of U.S. adults who now say nurses have “very high” or “high” honesty and ethical standards is far more than any of the other 17 professions rated. …

At the bottom of the rankings, solid majorities rate the ethics of telemarketers and members of Congress low. Less than 10% rate their ethics highly. CONTINUED

Megan Brenan, Gallup

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The GOP may regret McCarthy’s concessions in 2024

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One of Kevin McCarthy’s first acts as speaker of the House was to take a selfie with Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, the far-right conspiracy theorist and election denier who has emerged as one of his staunchest allies. That image, which Greene immediately posted on social media, encapsulates the wager McCarthy has placed for the entire House Republican Conference — and indeed for the GOP overall.

To secure the speakership, McCarthy did what his two Republican predecessors in the job, Paul Ryan and John Boehner, would not: grant concessions to the House GOP’s most militant conservative faction that will vastly increase their visibility and leverage in shaping the party’s agenda.

With that decision, McCarthy is betting that the GOP can maintain broad enough electoral support to defend its House majority even while moving to center firebrand conservative representatives such as Greene, Jim Jordan and Scott Perry — all of whom the January 6 committee singled out for their roles in Donald Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election. CONTINUED

Ronald Brownstein, CNN

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Biden Approval Rating Jumps As He Pivots Toward Center

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President Joe Biden’s approval rating has climbed to a nine-month high as he pivots to govern with a divided Congress, the January IBD/TIPP Poll finds.

Biden’s job approval rating jumped 4.5 points to 49.1 in the new IBD/TIPP Poll. The IBD/TIPP presidential job approval figure indicates that 49.1% of adults who stated an opinion approve of Biden’s job performance and 50.9% disapprove, in a measure that excludes those who were unsure or declined to say.

Including the full survey group, 44% of American adults approve of how Biden is handling the presidency, and 46% disapprove. Biden’s net -2 approval rating improved from -9 in December, with 40% approval and 49% disapproval. CONTINUED

Jed Graham, Investor’s Business Daily

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