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AMERICAN.COM

A Magazine of Ideas

NUMBERS

By Karlyn Bowman & Karen Porter Friday, November 16, 2007

A week's worth of data, compiled from the last five editions of our daily email newsletter.

Numbers-11-12-07Republican Litmus Tests
According to a Los Angles Times/Bloomberg poll, 50 percent of Republican voters say that they could vote for a presidential candidate who supports abortion and gay rights, while 38 percent say they could not. Some 65 percent of liberal-to-moderate Republicans say they could support such a candidate, along with 43 percent of conservative Republicans. When asked whether social conservatives should run a third-party challenger if the GOP nominates a pro-choice and pro-gay rights candidate, 38 percent of conservative Republicans said yes but 50 percent said no. Source: Los Angeles Times/Bloomberg, October 2007.

 

Internet in the brain

Virtual Thought

Want the Internet implanted inside your head? When asked by Zogby International in October, 11 percent of Americans said they would consider it, including 17 percent of men and 7 percent of women. Nearly a quarter of all respondents—and 31 percent of all singles—said they thought the Internet could serve as a replacement for a significant other. Source: Zogby International, October 2007.

 

 

 

 

11-14-07-size of govt2

 

Big or Small Government?

The decades-long debate about the size of government will surely heat up as the 2008 election draws closer. According to a recent ABC News/Washington Post poll, 50 percent of Americans prefer a “smaller government, with fewer services,” while 44 percent prefer a “larger government, with more services.” These numbers have remained fairly constant since 2004. Partisan differences are predictably sharp: 69 percent of Republicans want a smaller government, while 62 percent of Democrats favor a larger government. Source: ABC News/Washington Post, October 2007.

 

 

11-16-07-Toy storyToy Story
This fall’s spate of consumer product safety recalls may encourage Americans to purchase more carefully, especially when it comes to toys from China. According to an October poll from Harris Interactive, more than nine in ten Americans reported hearing about recalls of children’s toys sold under several well-known brand names. Six percent said that they had toys in their household that had been impacted by the recall. Thirty-eight percent said that they would buy fewer toys this season; 45 percent said they would avoid buying toys from China. Source: Harris Interactive, October 2007.

 

Alienated

11-15-07- Alienation2

Americans

According to a Harris index designed to measure people's feelings about society and their place in it, Americans feel more alienated today than they have at any other point during George W. Bush's presidency. The index, an average of responses to the five questions shown at right, was 56 in 2007, 3 points above its average of 53 throughout Bush's tenure. Despite the increase, Americans are less alienated today than they were during Bill Clinton's presidency, when the index averaged 62. Source: Harris Interactive, October 2007.