On one level, the story of President Biden’s first year is a simple one: Americans feel worse about the pandemic and economy than they did earlier in his term, and his ratings have suffered for it. On another level, it’s a little more nuanced: they do not exclusively blame his […] Read more »
Biden’s bad week and the unreality of great expectations
The bad news keeps on coming for President Biden. He ended 2021 at a low point in his presidency, hoping to turn it around in the new year. But things have only gotten worse. His spending and voting rights plans are at congressional dead ends. Inflation remains at multi-decade highs. […] Read more »
America’s retreat: Over half believe that the end of the virus is more than a year away or is never happening
As the nation faces a staggering COVID surge, we’ve seen an abrupt retrenchment from daily life. For the first time since last spring, a majority report social distancing, while the perceived risk of spending time in person with friends and family, visiting retail stores, or eating out has returned to […] Read more »
U.S. Life Ratings Retreat to Close Out 2021
The percentage of Americans who evaluate their lives well enough to be considered “thriving” on Gallup’s Life Evaluation Index was 55.1% in November-December, down 4.1 percentage points from the 14-year high of 59.2% measured in June. … The movement in Americans’ life ratings over the past two years appears to […] Read more »
The nation’s mental health crisis crosses partisan lines
In most Suffolk University/USA TODAY polls, public opinion on a variety of questions we ask splits along partisan lines. Democrats are yin and Republicans are yang. … In this week’s national poll of registered voters, 80% of Republicans, 91% of Democrats, and 93% of Independents said that there is a […] Read more »
One year after Jan. 6 U.S. Capitol riot, concern about misinformation is high
As the spread of false information tops the list of the public’s concerns at the moment, a new Ipsos poll finds that nearly half of Americans get a failing grade (defined as answering 5 or fewer questions correctly, out of 10) when asked to determine if a set of statements […] Read more »