Journalists Sense Turmoil in Their Industry Amid Continued Passion for Their Work

· Leave a Comment

From the economic upheaval of the digital age to the rise of political polarization and the COVID-19 pandemic, journalism in America has been in a state of turmoil for decades. While U.S. journalists recognize the many challenges facing their industry, they continue to express a high degree of satisfaction and fulfillment in their jobs, according to an extensive new Pew Research Center survey of nearly 12,000 working U.S.-based journalists. CONTINUED

Pew Research Center

The OPINION TODAY email newsletter is a concise daily rundown of significant new poll results and insightful analysis. It’s FREE. Sign up here: opiniontoday.substack

The good news about gun control isn’t the bipartisan deal

· Leave a Comment

There is good news about gun policy in America. But it’s not the bipartisan agreement that emerged on Capitol Hill this week. …

First, those involved in public policy who are not accountable to hardcore Republican voters have come to agree that guns are the problem. As a result, many in the media, top Democratic Party officials, think tanks and advocacy groups that don’t usually focus on guns are all pushing for policies such as banning the sale and ownership of military-style weapons and high-capacity magazines. …

The second big shift is that the national Democratic Party is no longer afraid of gun control. A mythology developed in the early 2000s that supporting gun control was a key driver of the Democrats’ decline in the South. In particular, some strategists argued that Al Gore lost his home state of Tennessee, and therefore the 2000 presidential election, over his support for gun control. Now, it’s fairly clear that the Democrats’ struggles in the South was part of a broader political realignment, with the most important explanation likely being Southerners breaking with the party as it became more tied to Black people and causes. CONTINUED

Perry Bacon Jr., Washington Post

The OPINION TODAY email newsletter is a concise daily rundown of significant new poll results and insightful analysis. It’s FREE. Sign up here: opiniontoday.substack

Most Americans oppose trans athletes in female sports, poll finds

· Leave a Comment

Even as an increasing share of Americans report familiarity with and tolerance for transgender people, most oppose allowing transgender female athletes to compete against other women at the professional, college and high school level, according to a Washington Post-University of Maryland poll.

The poll, conducted May 4 through 17 among 1,503 people across the United States, finds 55 percent of Americans opposed to allowing transgender women and girls to compete with other women and girls in high school sports and 58 percent opposed to it for college and professional sports. CONTINUED

Tara Bahrampour, Scott Clement & Emily Guskin, Washington Post

The OPINION TODAY email newsletter is a concise daily rundown of significant new poll results and insightful analysis. It’s FREE. Sign up here: opiniontoday.substack

Usual Midterm Indicators Very Unfavorable for Democrats

· Leave a Comment

With less than five months to go before voters elect all members of the House of Representatives and one-third of the Senate, the current Democratic congressional majority is facing an extremely unfavorable election environment.

The party of the president typically loses U.S. House seats in midterm elections — an average of 23 since 1974. However, 2022 is not shaping up to be an average year. Rather, as of May, Gallup finds presidential job approval and three other key national mood indicators well below the historical averages measured in past midterm election years. On their own, those numbers would all predict a greater-than-average loss of seats for the Democratic Party this fall. CONTINUED

Jeffrey M. Jones & Lydia Saad, Gallup

The OPINION TODAY email newsletter is a concise daily rundown of significant new poll results and insightful analysis. It’s FREE. Sign up here: opiniontoday.substack

American Democracy is Under Threat — and Newsrooms Are Mobilizing to Cover It

· Leave a Comment

Think about a “threat to democracy,” and it’s easy to conjure up an image of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021 — the nation’s very seat of government besieged by rioters convinced that the presidential election was rigged. …

While the insurrection was a wake-up call for the nation as a whole, and the profession of reporting in particular, covering it long term isn’t as clear cut as covering a riot. For a responsible free press, guarding democracy is much more akin to “watching a leak,” says Tony Marcano, managing editor of Southern California Public Radio (KPCC) and LAist, which is launching a Civics and Democracy beat. “You have to pay attention, because that leak could turn into a crack that can turn into damage, and the next thing you know, your house is falling down.”

In other words, if the real story of the dangers to the U.S. system of government is to be told, it won’t necessarily be a made-for-T.V. mutiny. Instead, it will happen at local election agencies, statehouses, and school boards. But connecting the dots between what’s going on in disparate communities and menaces on a greater scale takes vigilance — and a willingness to look beyond both traditional horse race coverage and bothsidesism. CONTINUED

Celeste Katz Marston, Nieman Reports

The OPINION TODAY email newsletter is a concise daily rundown of significant new poll results and insightful analysis. It’s FREE. Sign up here: opiniontoday.substack

January 6 committee is testing whether Americans can still agree on a shared reality

· Leave a Comment

With the powerful case it has assembled against former President Donald Trump, the bipartisan House select committee investigating the January 6, 2021, insurrection may provide the clearest — and potentially most ominous — measure yet available of how completely red and blue America have separated into divergent information bubbles that no longer share even the most rudimentary agreement on the basic facts of American life. …

For months, polls have consistently found large numbers of Republicans expressing agreement with propositions that have no basis in fact, including the beliefs that systemic fraud stole the 2020 election from Trump and the January 6 assault was carried out by leftist agitators and Black protesters, not White supremacist groups and Trump supporters. …

By assembling the information about Trump’s efforts to subvert the 2020 result into one overarching narrative, releasing striking new information from its months of investigation (like the reports that Trump had praised the words of rioters chanting for the hanging of then-Vice President Mike Pence) and focusing national attention through sustained media coverage and surprisingly high ratings for its kickoff prime-time hearing last week, the committee is testing whether any disclosure, no matter how damning, can breach the dome of disinformation that Trump and his allies in conservative media have built around many voters in the GOP coalition. CONTINUED

Ronald Brownstein, CNN

The OPINION TODAY email newsletter is a concise daily rundown of significant new poll results and insightful analysis. It’s FREE. Sign up here: opiniontoday.substack