As a statistician and political scientist, I care about getting the numbers right, and I am also interested in how people get things wrong. With economic statistics, it is often all about interpretation: were President Obama’s policies a failure given that unemployment was higher at the end of his first […] Read more »
Minorities Less Confident in Police, Small Business
U.S. nonwhites express greater confidence than whites in most major institutions in the country, particularly the presidency, television news, and Congress. Whites are more confident than nonwhites in the military, the police, and small business. [cont.] Jeffrey M. Jones, Gallup Read more »
Confidence in Congress Falls to Lowest on Record
Americans’ confidence in Congress as an institution is down to 10%, ranking the legislative body last on a list of 16 societal institutions for the fourth straight year. This is the lowest level of confidence Gallup has found, not only for Congress, but for any institution on record. Americans remain […] Read more »
Public Preferences Differ on Top SCOTUS Cases
A majority is holding fast in support for gay marriage, and even more Americans say legally married gays should receive full federal benefits. But opinions shift on another social and legal issue, with three-quarters – including more than seven in 10 whites and nonwhites alike – opposed to consideration of […] Read more »
Wide majority opposes race-based college admissions programs
Americans overwhelmingly oppose race-based college admissions and support extending federal benefits to same-sex couples, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll that finds broad public agreement on issues awaiting Supreme Court decisions this month. Three quarters of Americans, 76 percent, oppose allowing universities to consider race when selecting students, […] Read more »
Two-thirds of Americans Support Affirmative Action Principles, Oppose Applying Them to College Admissions
More than two-thirds (68 percent) of Americans support programs which give special consideration to blacks and other minorities in order to make up for past discrimination, a new survey finds, as the U.S. Supreme Court considers the constitutionality of such programs. The new survey, conducted by Public Religion Research Institute, […] Read more »