“We’re in a crisis when it comes to people believing in government and the best thing we can do is govern effectively.”
— Rep. Elissa Slotkin (D-MI), on NBC News.
“We’re in a crisis when it comes to people believing in government and the best thing we can do is govern effectively.”
— Rep. Elissa Slotkin (D-MI), on NBC News.
NBC News Poll: “Overwhelming majorities of Americans believe the country is headed in the wrong direction, that their household income is falling behind the cost of living, that political polarization will only continue and that there’s a real threat to the nation’s democracy and majority rule.”
“What’s more, the nation’s top politicians and political parties are more unpopular than popular, and interest in the upcoming November midterms is down — not up.”
A new survey finds trust in government is collapsing, especially in democracies, Axios reports.
“People also don’t think media or business leaders are telling them the truth, and this suspicion of multiple societal institutions is pushing people into smaller, more insular circles of trust.”
Key finding: A majority of people globally believe journalists (67%), government leaders (66%) and business executives (63%) are “purposely trying to mislead people by saying things they know are false or gross exaggerations.”
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A new CBS/YouGov poll finds that 68% of respondents see the Jan. 6 attacks as “a harbinger of increasing political violence, not an isolated incident.”
A new Washington Post-University of Maryland poll finds “the percentage of Americans who say violent action against the government is justified at times stands at 34%, which is considerably higher than in past polls by The Post or other major news organizations dating back more than two decades.”
And the view is partisan: “The new survey finds 40 percent of Republicans, 41 percent of independents and 23 percent of Democrats saying violence is sometimes justified.”
Washington Post: “A man strung Christmas lights from his home to his neighbor’s to support her. The whole community followed.”
The U.S. population grew at a slower rate in 2021 than in any other year since the founding of the nation, according to new Census data.
A new Morning Consult poll finds just 38% of Americans think the country is on the right track, while 62% think it’s on the wrong track.
Thomas Edsall: “Political analysts, scholars and close observers of government are explicitly raising the possibility that the polarized American electoral system has come to the point at which a return to traditional democratic norms will be extremely difficult, if not impossible.”
A new AP-NORC poll finds that among Americans in Gen Z — the survey included ages 13 to 24 — 46% said the pandemic has made it harder to pursue their education or career goals, compared with 36% of Millennials and 31% in Generation X.
There was a similar gap when it came to dating and romantic relationships, with 40% of Gen Z saying it became harder.
A new Harvard Institute of Politics poll of 18- to 29-year olds finds 52% said democracy in the United States is either failing or in trouble.
The concern spans the ideological spectrum, with 45% of Democrats, 70% of Republicans and 51% of unaffiliated voters agreeing.
Meanwhile, President Biden’s approval numbers among young voters have taken a 13-point hit since the spring, with just 46% now approving of his job performance.
New York Times: “In recent years, major brands have become increasingly entangled in social and political debates and chief executives have become spokespeople for causes on the right and left. With few indications that the country will become any less polarized in the years ahead, it is perhaps inevitable that corporate America, like the electorate itself, splits into red and blue brands.”
“Nearly half of Republican voters support federally decriminalizing cannabis, and GOP lawmakers are now beginning to reflect their constituents’ view by increasingly supporting broad legalization at the state and federal level,” Politico reports.
“Stronger Republican involvement could hasten a snowball effect on Capitol Hill, where Democrats lead the charge on decriminalization but lack results.”
Washington Post: “More U.S. adults who do not already have children are saying they are unlikely to ever have them, a new Pew Research Center survey finds — findings that could draw renewed attention to the risks of declining birthrates for industrialized nations.”
Stu Rothenberg: “State races are more competitive, as they are in most states, even in those where one party has a solid advantage in federal contests. You wouldn’t say that Kansas was ‘purple‘ just because Democrats have won the governorship in three in the last five elections, would you? And you wouldn’t call Massachusetts ‘red‘ because Republicans have won six of the last eight elections for governor there.”
“National dynamics have impacted Virginia’s gubernatorial contests, even though Virginia’s fundamental partisanship is clear.”
A new PPRI/Brookings Institution poll found that only 29% of Republicans say that American culture and way of life have changed for the better since the 1950s.
The number is a leap down from 2020 when 46% of Republicans said American culture and way of life had changed for the better since the 1950s, but is only two points off from what Republicans said in 2016, before Donald Trump was elected President.
New York Times: “Despite many signals that things are improving — the stock market is hitting record highs, hiring is accelerating sharply with 531,000 jobs added in October, workers are earning more, and Covid hospitalizations and deaths are dropping from their autumn peaks — many Americans seem stuck in a pandemic hangover of pessimism.”
“More than 60 percent of voters in opinion surveys say that the country is heading in the wrong direction — a national funk that has pummeled Mr. Biden’s approval ratings and fueled a backlash against Democrats that could cost them control of Congress in next year’s midterm elections.”
Taegan Goddard is the founder of Political Wire, one of the earliest and most influential political web sites. He also runs Political Job Hunt, Electoral Vote Map and the Political Dictionary.
Goddard spent more than a decade as managing director and chief operating officer of a prominent investment firm in New York City. Previously, he was a policy adviser to a U.S. Senator and Governor.
Goddard is also co-author of You Won - Now What? (Scribner, 1998), a political management book hailed by prominent journalists and politicians from both parties. In addition, Goddard's essays on politics and public policy have appeared in dozens of newspapers across the country.
Goddard earned degrees from Vassar College and Harvard University. He lives in New York with his wife and three sons.
Goddard is the owner of Goddard Media LLC.
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