GOP Has Congress Edge by Default

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Congressional Republicans have a small edge over their Democratic colleagues on a dubious metric – they are slightly less likely to be seen as lacking concern for the average American’s financial well-being. This, along with a continuing decline in President Joe Biden’s job rating, contributes to a small preference for GOP control after this year’s midterm elections. At the same time, the Monmouth University Poll finds that elements of Biden’s spending plans remain broadly popular, but passage of the BBB legislation is not a top priority. CONTINUED

Monmouth University Polling Institute

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America Has Split, and It’s Now in ‘Very Dangerous Territory’

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… Polarization has become a force that feeds on itself, gaining strength from the hostility it generates, finding sustenance on both the left and the right. A series of recent analyses reveals the destructive power of polarization across the American political system.

The United States continues to stand out among nations experiencing the detrimental effects of polarization, according to “What Happens When Democracies Become Perniciously Polarized?,” a Carnegie Endowment for International Peace report written by Jennifer McCoy of Georgia State and Benjamin Press of the Carnegie Endowment. …

McCoy and Press studied 52 countries “where democracies reached pernicious levels of polarization.” Of those, “twenty-six — fully half of the cases — experienced a downgrading of their democratic rating.” Quite strikingly, the two continue, “the United States is the only advanced Western democracy to have faced such intense polarization for such an extended period. The United States is in uncharted and very dangerous territory.” CONTINUED

Thomas B. Edsall, New York Times

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Amidst the Pandemic, Confidence in the Scientific Community Becomes Increasingly Polarized

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Political divisions on confidence in the scientific and medical communities have widened, according to an analysis of the 2021 General Social Survey (GSS) by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. The survey, conducted a year into the pandemic, finds confidence in the scientific community has increased among Democrats between 2018 and 2021, but fell among Republicans.

Forty-eight percent of Americans overall have a great deal of confidence in the scientific community. But there is now a 30-point gap in confidence between Democrats and Republicans, up from a 9-point gap in 2018. In 2021, 64% of Democrats have a great deal of confidence in the scientific community, whereas only 34% of Republicans say the same. CONTINUED

AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research

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Americans Expect Inflation to Persist Over Next Six Months

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More Americans expect several key U.S. economic trends to continue in the direction they have generally gone over the past several months rather than to reverse course. This includes predictions of rising inflation, rising stock values and declining unemployment. CONTINUED

Jeffrey M. Jones, Gallup

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Two Covid Americas: The unvaccinated are less worried than the boosted

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Covid’s starkly different impact on the young and old has been one of the virus’s defining characteristics. It tends to be mild for children and younger adults but is often severe for the elderly. More than three-quarters of all U.S. Covid deaths have occurred among people 65 and older.

Given these patterns, it seems obvious that older Americans should be more fearful of Covid than younger Americans. Yet they’re not. That’s one of the striking findings from a new poll that Morning Consult, a survey firm, has conducted for this newsletter. …

A majority of the boosted say they are worried about getting sick from Covid. In truth, riding in a car presents more danger to most of them than the virus does. A majority of the unvaccinated, on the other hand, say they are not particularly worried. The starkest, saddest way to understand the irrationality of this view is to listen to the regret of unvaccinated people who are desperately sick from Covid or who have watched relatives die from it. CONTINUED

David Leonhardt, New York Times

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America remains on pause as Omicron continues

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The Administration’s efforts to distribute masks and tests has been met with widespread public approval.

Over four in five Americans (84%) support the federal government mailing free at-home COVID tests to anyone who wants one, including a majority (65%) of the unvaccinated. Similar numbers (84%) also support making N95 masks available at pharmacies and health clinics.

A large number of Americans, 44%, say that have already ordered a free COVID test through the government or post office. CONTINUED

Ipsos

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