Fifty years after the Selma to Montgomery marches, Americans see progress, but 54 percent (including 72 percent of blacks) think only some or none of the goals of Martin Luther King and the 1960s civil rights movement have been achieved. Forty-three percent think most or all of the goals have […] Read more »
Why People ‘Fly from Facts’
… As public debate rages about issues like immunization, Obamacare, and same-sex marriage, many people try to use science to bolster their arguments. And since it’s becoming easier to test and establish facts—whether in physics, psychology, or policy—many have wondered why bias and polarization have not been defeated. When people […] Read more »
AP-GfK Poll: Most Americans favor a higher minimum wage
Most Americans support increasing the minimum wage, as well as requiring employers to provide paid sick leave and parental leave, according to a new Associated Press-GfK poll. All three were proposed by President Barack Obama during his recent State of the Union address as ways to increase protections for American […] Read more »
Straight Talk for White Men
… White men sometimes feel besieged and baffled by these suggestions of systematic advantage. When I wrote a series last year, “When Whites Just Don’t Get It,” the reaction from white men was often indignant: It’s an equal playing field now! Get off our case! Yet the evidence is overwhelming […] Read more »
Why Giuliani and Other Obama Critics Play the ‘American’ Card
When Rudolph Giuliani said that he does “not believe that the president loves America,” he became the latest in a long line of public figures to question the loyalty or allegiance of the country’s first nonwhite president. While these criticisms are ostensibly directed at Barack Obama’s worldview, as Mr. Giuliani […] Read more »
California: Record-High Approval for Gov. Brown, Bipartisan Support for His Budget
Californians give Governor Jerry Brown a record-high job approval rating and his budget proposal has strong bipartisan support in a statewide survey released today by the Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC), with support from The James Irvine Foundation. Strong majorities of state residents favor the governor’s plan to require […] Read more »