Gallup data reveal how Americans’ views line up with 10 key issues raised by President Barack Obama in his 2015 State of the Union address Tuesday night. CONT. Frank Newport, Jeffrey M. Jones & Lydia Saad, Gallup Read more »
The Rise of ‘Welfare Chauvinism’
… In the United States, the besieged two-party system has remained intact, protected by a 200-year-old tradition and an electoral system that cuts short any bid to create a viable third party. There are two major costs to this stability: recurrent gridlock, which constricts legislative action, and a failure to […] Read more »
Republicans Sure Love to Hate Unions
A paradox of American politics is that Republicans take organized labor more seriously than Democrats do. The right sees unions as a mainstay of the left, a crucial source of cash, campaign manpower and votes. … The economic forces working against unions, especially private sector unions – globalization, the shift […] Read more »
Americans Approve of Unions but Support ‘Right to Work’
A slim majority of Americans, 53%, approve of labor unions, although approval remains on the low end of Gallup’s nearly 80-year trend on this question. Approval has been as high as 75% in the 1950s. Currently, 38% disapprove of unions. At the same time Americans express greater approval than disapproval […] Read more »
The Frustration Doctrine
Americans’ confidence in American leadership is flagging to such a degree that it poses a critical threat to our democracy, particularly as moneyed interests seek to manipulate the malaise and stir policy and politician away from principle and toward profit. CONT. Charles M. Blow, New York Times Read more »
Public Faith in Congress Falls Again, Hits Historic Low
Americans’ confidence in Congress has sunk to a new low. Seven percent of Americans say they have “a great deal” or “quite a lot” of confidence in Congress as an American institution, down from the previous low of 10% in 2013. … Americans’ current confidence in Congress is not only […] Read more »