5 Ways America Changed During the Obama Years

American public opinion changed in significant ways over the course of Barack Obama’s eight years in the White House, including on issues such as the economy, race relations, and the level of confidence the public has in different aspects or actors in the government. Many of these changes were the […] Read more »

The Electoral College Blind Spot

Donald Trump’s victory in last November’s election victory came despite the fact that he lost the popular vote by 2.1 percentage points, making for the widest discrepancy between the popular vote and the Electoral College since 1876. So one measure of the quality of horse-race analysis is in how seriously […] Read more »

No Towering Problem in US as Trump Takes Office

As Donald Trump becomes the 45th U.S. president, he faces a nation without one dominant, clear-cut problem. Between 8% and 11% of Americans, when asked to name the nation’s most important problem, mention a cluster of issues, including the economy, dissatisfaction with government, race relations, healthcare, unemployment and election reform. […] Read more »

Americans’ Satisfaction Steady or Up, Except on Race Matters

Americans’ satisfaction with both race relations and the situation for blacks and other racial minorities in the U.S. edged down from last year, the only two areas of the 28 Gallup measured to decline significantly over this period. … The biggest positive changes over the past year were increases in […] Read more »

US Satisfaction: Quality of Life First, Race Relations Last

As the nation prepares to transition to Donald Trump’s administration, solid majorities of Americans are satisfied with the U.S. quality of life, the opportunity to get ahead by working hard and the nation’s military strength. They are much less satisfied with the state of race relations, the nation’s efforts to […] Read more »