Pope Francis’ comments Thursday that Donald Trump is “not a Christian” if he supports a wall along the Mexican border put the Republican presidential contender in the uncomfortable position of being pitted against a more popular political figure, according to recent polling on the pope’s standing among Americans and American […] Read more »
Solid Majority Continue to Support Death Penalty
About six in 10 Americans favor the use of the death penalty for a person convicted of murder, similar to 2014. This continues a gradual decline in support for the procedure since reaching its all-time high point of 80% in 1994. CONT. Andrew Dugan, Gallup Read more »
Guess who used to be okay with the death penalty
A major impediment to political understanding is the attitude that whatever is happening now has always been so. One of our most important tasks as political scientists is not just to describe the world as it is, but to identify and understand change. CONT. Andrew Gelman (Columbia), The Monkey Cage Read more »
Why Gun Control and Abortion Are Different From Gay Marriage
The legalization of same-sex marriage is a potent example of a dominant theme in American history: Over time, civil rights expand, and discrimination ebbs. … As a result, it’s fair to divide the major issues in American political life into two broad categories. In one category are the rights-based issues […] Read more »
Most Americans Continue to Say Death Penalty Morally OK
As the death penalty continues to lose support in state houses across America, with Nebraska banning the practice last week, 60% of Americans say the death penalty is morally acceptable. While this measure has remained relatively stable over time, the current 60% is on the lower end of acceptance of […] Read more »
Americans Continue to Shift Left on Key Moral Issues
Americans are more likely now than in the early 2000s to find a variety of behaviors morally acceptable, including gay and lesbian relations, having a baby outside of marriage and sex between an unmarried man and woman. Moral acceptability of many of these issues is now at a record-high level. […] Read more »