As his Monday night town hall meeting wrapped up, Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) called on a veteran who had a question about benefits and praise for the congressman’s work. “I’d like to congratulate you and Rep. [Jim] Jordan on bringing the Clinton Foundation up for possible prosecution or investigation,” Dan […] Read more »
What Americans Say Is the Biggest Problem Facing the U.S.
For decades, Gallup has asked Americans what they think is the most important problem facing the nation, and their answers have varied over time. In this episode, Gallup Senior Editor Jeff Jones gives us a rundown of Americans’ views on what the nation’s biggest problems are today. Later, we share […] Read more »
Substance Abuse Spikes as Perceived Health Problem
On the heels of President Donald Trump’s recent declaration that the opioid crisis is a health emergency, Americans’ mentions of drug and alcohol abuse as the most urgent national health problem have spiked. In November 2017, 14% of U.S. adults named it the most urgent health problem in the country, […] Read more »
Ahead of House Tax Reform Vote, Americans are More Likely to Rank Children’s Health Care, Hurricane Relief and Other Issues as Top Priorities for Washington
As the House prepares to vote Thursday on its tax reform bill, a new Kaiser Family Foundation poll finds almost three in 10 Americans (28%) view tax reform as a top priority for President Trump and Congress. That’s significantly fewer than the share that say the same about reauthorizing funding […] Read more »
Mentions of Economic Issues as Top Problem Lowest Since 1999
Americans’ concerns about the U.S. economy are, by one measure, the lowest in 18 years. Fifteen percent of Americans mention an economic issue when asked to name the most important problem facing the country. The percentage mentioning the economy has been lower only once in Gallup’s 25-year trend — 13% […] Read more »
How the news media activate public expression and influence national agendas
We demonstrate that exposure to the news media causes Americans to take public stands on specific issues, join national policy conversations, and express themselves publicly—all key components of democratic politics—more often than they would otherwise. After recruiting 48 mostly small media outlets, we chose groups of these outlets to write […] Read more »