Mitt Romney carries newfound competitiveness in trust to handle international issues into the final presidential debate, combined with his highest personal popularity of the 2012 campaign. But continued weakness in his perceived economic priorities is keeping the race a close one. Among other shifts, after last week’s second debate, which […] Read more »
Economy Is Dominant Issue for Americans as Election Nears
The “economy in general” ranks No. 1 on Gallup’s Most Important Problem list in October, with 37% of Americans saying it is the top issue facing the country. This is up from 29% in September and exceeds unemployment, in second place at 26%. … Democrats, independents, and Republicans all became […] Read more »
How we misread the numbers that dominate our politics
… In politics and beyond, we often use numbers to validate our intuitions and to measure the vagaries of life, yet we know that these numbers are often imprecise. And perhaps more than any prior election, this year’s race has shown how easily numbers can be abused, exploited or misconstrued. The […] Read more »
Housing Revival Boosts U.S. Outlook as Confidence Gains
Consumer confidence rose to a six- month high and an index of U.S. leading indicators climbed as a nascent housing recovery started to ripple through the world’s largest economy. The Bloomberg Consumer Comfort Index rose to minus 34.8 in the week ended Oct. 14, the highest level since April, from […] Read more »
Economic Confidence Best Since May
Americans’ economic confidence, on a weekly basis, is now at the highest level Gallup has recorded since late May. The Economic Confidence Index score for the week ending Oct. 14 is -17, up from -19 the week prior and -21 the week prior to that. [cont.] Lymari Morales, Gallup Read more »
Seniors 65+ on Medicare, the debate, and the economy
Resurgent Republic sponsored two focus groups in Tampa, Florida, among seniors age 65 and older who supported Barack Obama in 2008 and are not strongly affiliated with either candidate today. Conducted by McLaughlin & Associates, the groups were split by gender. … Medicare is undoubtedly an important issue for this […] Read more »