President Obama will deliver his State of the Union address Tuesday enjoying rising approval ratings that have been strengthened by rapidly improving perceptions of the economy and increased optimism about the overall direction of the country, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll. … Obama enjoys other advantages as […] Read more »
Mood on Economy Up, Race Relations Sharply Down
Americans’ views about the economy, their overall quality of life and the opportunity to get ahead through hard work are more positive than they were before the 2014 State of the Union Address — echoing their improving economic confidence. At the same time, Americans are markedly less satisfied with the […] Read more »
Public’s Policy Priorities Reflect Changing Conditions at Home and Abroad
As views of the economy improve and terrorist threats persist, the public’s policy priorities have changed: For the first time in five years, as many Americans cite defending the U.S. against terrorism (76%) as a top policy priority as say that about strengthening the nation’s economy (75%). CONT. Pew Read more »
Can Jeb Bush Defy the Tea Party and Win?
Can Jeb Bush win the Republican presidential nomination while defying the most ideologically committed wing of his party? Bill Clinton did this successfully in 1992, when he staked out conservative stands opposed by the liberal wing of his party — the so-called Sister Souljah strategy, designed to distance himself from […] Read more »
What Americans Want from Democrats on Education
… Democratic policymakers and candidates have long taken it as an article of faith that they belong to the “education party.” In the last election, as in every one before it, countless ads attacked Republicans as wanting to gut investments in education and cast the Democratic candidate as the savior […] Read more »
Black and White Differences in Views on Race
The outcry after grand juries in Ferguson, Missouri, and Staten Island, New York, decided not to indict police officers in the deaths of unarmed black men has refocused Americans’ attention on the continuing, contentious issue of race relations in the U.S. Gallup has measured black and white Americans’ attitudes about […] Read more »