Majorities of U.S. Adults Oppose Anti-LGBTQ Laws

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A large majority of U.S. adults oppose discrimination against LGBTQ people, according to a new survey fielded by experts at NORC at the University of Chicago. The analysis finds that U.S. adults oppose the use of religious objections for doctors refusing medical care to LGBTQ people (84%), employers refusing to hire LGBTQ people (74%), and businesses denying services to LGBTQ people (71%). CONTINUED

NORC

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Ten Years After the Sandy Hook School Massacre: A Look Back

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Ten years ago, on Dec. 14, 2012, the small Newtown, Connecticut, community was forever changed when a gunman killed 20 children and six adults at Sandy Hook Elementary School. The massacre remains the deadliest mass shooting in a K-12 school in the U.S. The ages of the student victims — all of whom were six or seven — were particularly striking, and there were immediate calls from many to tighten national gun laws. CONTINUED

Megan Brenan, Gallup

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Inflation’s Impact on U.S. Consumers Leveling Off

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A majority of Americans, 55%, say rising prices have caused financial hardship for their household. This percentage is essentially unchanged from August after increasing in two prior measurements. A steady 13% of Americans say higher prices are causing a severe hardship for their family. …

As would be expected, inflation has taken a greater toll on lower-income Americans — more than three-quarters of whom say they have experienced hardship because of rising prices. No less than 66% of lower-income Americans have reported financial strain from inflation over the past year, with the current reading the highest measured to date. CONTINUED

Jeffrey M. Jones, Gallup

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How Trump’s legacy became ‘pure poison’ for independents

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The highly touted red wave in last month’s midterm election failed to develop largely because it hit a wall of resistance among independent voters, especially across the key battleground states. And that presents difficult questions for Republicans looking forward to 2024.

The GOP’s disappointing showing among independents this year marked the third consecutive election in which the party has underperformed with those critical swing voters. Although Donald Trump ran competitively among independents in his first presidential race in 2016, since he took office, the GOP has consistently faced broad opposition among them, especially those who are women or hold four-year college degrees.

The GOP’s 2022 struggles with independents were especially striking because they came even as most of those voters expressed negative views of both President Joe Biden’s job performance and the state of the economy – sentiments that typically cause most swing voters to break for the party out of the White House. To many analysts in both parties, the reluctance of so many independents to support Republican candidates despite such discontent underscores how powerfully the Trump-era GOP has alienated these voters. CONTINUED

Ronald Brownstein, CNN

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Growing US Divide on How Long to Support Ukraine

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At the end of November, the United States authorized its latest assistance package to Ukraine, valued at $400 million to bolster the country’s security and defense in the war against Russia, now beginning its 10th month. A just-completed November 18-20 Chicago Council US assistance to Ukraine, both economically and with military equipment. But as the fighting drags into winter, the overall US public is now divided on whether the United States should support Ukraine as long as it takes or if it should urge Kyiv to settle for peace as soon as possible. …

The Chicago Council survey shows that as many Americans think Russia has the advantage in the current conflict as think Ukraine does (26% each). Democrats are more likely to say Ukraine has the advantage (32%, compared to 23% of Republicans and 22% of Independents). But an overall plurality (46%) believes that neither Ukraine nor Russia has the advantage. CONTINUED

Dina Smeltz, Craig Kafura & Emily Sullivan, Chicago Council on Global Affairs

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A lot of the best political messages are really boring

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One of the 2022 results that surprised me was Catherine Cortez Masto’s successful re-election in Nevada. …

So how did she pull it off? I think Dobbs was clearly an important factor, as it was in many states.

But a new report suggests that Cortez Masto and her campaign can offer some important lessons, namely that one incredibly banal message about law enforcement that she ran is apparently very potent. To an extent, this insight backs up things I’ve believed for a long time about the value of normie politics. But I also think that people who are more left-wing than I am will find a fair amount to like in this story because it suggests the possibility of making substantial gains in public opinion with very superficial gestures to the center. CONTINUED

Matthew Yglesias, Slow Boring

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