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 »
How to make surveys in war zones better, and why this is important
Surveys are now a common, though largely unacknowledged, counterinsurgency tool of the contemporary battlefield. … Certain problems associated with administering surveys in war zones are well known and largely unavoidable. Analysts at the RAND Corporation, for instance, have observed that conflict can prevent enumerators from accessing the most dangerous – […] Read more »
At the End of Afghanistan War, Most Doubt its Value
Fewer than four in 10 Americans say the war in Afghanistan was worth fighting – up from its low but still a broadly negative judgment on the United States’ longest conflict. Asked to consider its costs vs. benefits, 38 percent in this ABC News/Washington Post poll say the war in […] Read more »
Support for Afghanistan war rises as combat mission ends
After falling to record lows, support for the Afghanistan war has risen since 2013, according to a Washington Post-ABC News poll that also finds majority support for a plan to keep thousands of troops in the country in the coming year. Overall, Americans remain downbeat over the war at the […] 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 »
Most Americans believe ISIS serious threat
Most Americans now believe ISIS poses at least a somewhat serious threat to the United States and Americans are growing slightly more hawkish on the U.S. strategy to combat the militant group, according to a CNN/ORC poll released Monday. CONT. Jeremy Diamond, CNN Read more »