One of the most fundamental truisms in politics — that people vote with their pocketbooks — has become less clear cut in our culture of intense partisanship. Take Wisconsin. The state trails the nation in job growth, only you’re a lot less likely to think so if you’re a Republican […] Read more »
Three in Four Workers Plan to Work Past Retirement Age
Three-quarters of U.S. adult workers believe they will continue working past retirement age, with 40% saying they will do so because they want to, and 35% because they will have to. A much smaller percentage — 19% — fit the prototypical retirement scenario of someone who plans to stop working […] Read more »
Americans Give Guns, Immigration Reform Low Priority
Americans put reforming immigration and reducing gun violence — the focus of much of the attention on Capitol Hill in recent weeks — at the bottom of a list of 12 priorities for Congress and the president to address. Americans instead say leaders in Washington should give highest priority to […] Read more »
How good is ADP at forecasting the monthly BLS jobs reports?
… Jobs reports used to be exciting only for economists and stockbrokers, but since the election season, every political junkie and their dog seems to have taken an interest. People recognize that the economy plays a vital role in deciding votes; these reports, therefore, offer a vital clue to predicting […] Read more »
Millennials: A Generation With Unrealistic Expectations
… An analysis of the values and ambitions of American 12th graders finds “a growing discrepancy between the desire for material rewards and the willingness to do the work usually required to earn them.” Psychologists Jean Twenge of San Diego State University and Tim Kasser of Knox College report that, […] Read more »
Demographics Overtakes Economy as Prime Presidential Election Indicator
One of the questions we asked prior to the 2012 election was whether or not state-level unemployment figures would matter much on Election Day. As it turned out, the answer was “probably not much.” … Something else seems to matter more than unemployment right now: demographics. [cont.] Geoffrey Skelley, U.Va. Center […] Read more »