Improving views of the economy have helped hike President Barack Obama’s approval rating to a 20-month high, a new CNN/ORC poll showed Tuesday, as markets climbed to record levels at news of an economy in overdrive. CONT. Kevin Liptak, CNN Read more »
Economic Confidence Index at -5, Highest in 2014
Gallup’s U.S. Economic Confidence Index climbed to -5 for the week ending Dec. 21, up four points from the previous week. By one point, this is the highest index reading in 2014, and is two points shy of the post-recession high from 2013. CONT. Justin McCarthy, Gallup Read more »
As a Major U.S. Problem, Race Relations Sharply Rises
The percentage of Americans naming “race relations” or “racism” as the most important problem in the U.S. has climbed dramatically to 13%, the highest figure Gallup has recorded since a finding of 15% in 1992, in the midst of the Rodney King verdict. In November, race relations/racism was cited by […] Read more »
GOP gets a bounce from midterm wins
Republican victories in the midterm elections have translated into an immediate boost in the party’s image, putting the GOP at its highest point in eight years, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll. … The midterm elections also resulted in a shift in perceptions of who is more trusted […] Read more »
The Rise of ‘Welfare Chauvinism’
… In the United States, the besieged two-party system has remained intact, protected by a 200-year-old tradition and an electoral system that cuts short any bid to create a viable third party. There are two major costs to this stability: recurrent gridlock, which constricts legislative action, and a failure to […] Read more »
Taking account of 2014
People should be accountable for what they write. As a graduate student, I spent far too many hours in a dank and darkened room with a TV set and a VCR recording evening news broadcasts. It struck me that much of what was “predicted” in those broadcasts — a military […] Read more »