Datapoints

Who's Minding the Store? 09/16/2009 

Despite their major roles in responding to the financial crisis, most Americans have little idea who Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke are. In an August poll conducted by Harris Interactive, 57 percent said they were not familiar enough with Geithner to have an opinion of him, and 56 percent gave the same response for Bernanke.

Source: Online survey by Harris Interactive,  August 2009.

Confidence in Banks 09/14/2009 

Lehman Brothers declared bankruptcy a year ago, and the next day the Dow fell 500 points. The Gallup Organization has been asking about confidence in banks since 1978, when 55 percent of those polled had a great deal or quite a lot of confidence in them.  This year, just 22 percent had high confidence. Forty-nine percent expressed some confidence in banks, and 29 percent said they had hardly any or no confidence in banks.

Source: The Gallup Organization, June 2009. 

Healthcare Overhaul 09/09/2009 

As President Obama prepares to address a joint session of Congress on healthcare reform, most polls display rising disapproval of how he has treated the issue. A recent CNN/Opinion Research Corporation poll shows that 52 percent of Americans would feel more secure keeping the current healthcare system and 44 percent would feel more secure with the president’s proposed system. In another question in the poll, 53 percent of respondents said the president wants “the federal government to eventually take over all aspects of the healthcare system in this country,” but 42 percent said he does not.

Source: CNN/Opinion Research Corporation, August 2009.

Laboring on Labor Day 09/01/2009 

A roundup of new polls shows that most workers are highly satisfied with their jobs. Fifty percent told Gallup in early August that they were completely satisfied with their jobs, and another 37 percent said they were somewhat satisfied. Only 13 percent were dissatisfied. This is welcome news because Americans are growing more anxious about the job situation in general. Twenty-seven percent are worried their hours will be cut back, up from 14 percent last year. Thirty-two percent are worried their wages will be reduced, up from 16 percent last year.

Source: The Gallup Organization, August 2009.

Sex Scandals 08/28/2009 

Fox News and Opinion Dynamics pollsters asked people to think back over their lifetimes and judge which political party has had more sex scandals. A substantial 28 percent volunteered “no difference.” But 39 percent gave the Democrats the dubious distinction, and 19 percent gave it to the GOP. Broken down by party affiliation, respondents show sharply different perspectives.

Source: Fox News/Opinion Dynamics, July 2009. 

American Healthcare Costs 08/24/2009 

Most Americans who have health insurance have little idea what it costs because our employer-based system basically shields true cost information. So people rarely even ask about costs, as a poll conducted this spring shows. Only 22 percent told interviewers from NPR, the Kaiser Family Foundation, and the Harvard School of Public Health that they have asked their doctor what a medical or laboratory test would cost. Seventy-eight percent said they had not. In another question in the poll, 51 percent said they thought their doctor knew how much the tests cost, but 37 percent said they did not think their doctor would know. In the March survey, 65 percent said their doctor’s charges were reasonable; 27 percent called them unreasonable.

Source: NPR, Kaiser Family Foundation, Harvard School of Public Health, March 2009.

Pelosi and Palin’s Popularity 08/16/2009 

It is a comparison that neither will like, but House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin have similarly high negative ratings. Palin’s positives are higher than Pelosi’s. In the July NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll, 15 percent had a positive opinion of Pelosi and 44 percent a negative one. Those responses for Sarah Palin were 32 and 43 percent, respectively. In the Battleground poll conducted by the bipartisan polling team of Lake Research Partners and the Tarrance Group, 32 percent had a favorable opinion of Pelosi and 51 percent a negative one. As for Palin, those responses were 42 and 47 percent, respectively. In the Fox News/Opinion Dynamics poll responses shown here, 29 percent had a favorable opinion of Pelosi, and 47 percent an unfavorable one.  For Palin, those responses were 38 and 51 percent, respectively.
 
Source: Fox News/Opinion Dynamics, July 2009. 

Town Hall Tempers 08/15/2009 

What do Americans have to say about recent town hall meetings on healthcare? Fifty-two percent told Fox News/Opinion Dynamics interviewers that the protestors showed “real authentic outrage by concerned Americans,” and 29 percent said they were “fake, angry mobs planned by lobbyists and other opposition groups.” Partisan differences were evident, with a strong majority of Republicans (74 percent) saying the protests illustrate authentic outrage, and a plurality of Democrats (44 percent) saying they were fake. Independents came down on the “real” side, by 49 percent to 26 percent. In a new Gallup poll on the town hall meetings, 34 percent said the protests had made them more sympathetic to protestors’ views, 21 percent said they were less sympathetic, and 36 percent said the protests had not made any difference.

In Obama’s Shadow 08/13/2009 

The ratings for presidents and their vice presidents tend to follow a similar trajectory in public opinion polls. Favorable ratings of Vice President Richard Cheney hugged those of President George W. Bush throughout his administration, with a brief exception after 9/11 when the President’s marks soared above Cheney’s. Early polls suggest greater distance between President Obama and Vice President Biden. In the latest Gallup poll, 66 percent gave President Obama a favorable rating and 48 percent gave Biden one. Both men had similar unfavorable ratings, 33 percent for Obama, and 36 percent for Biden. Americans feel they do not know Biden as well as Obama. Seventeen percent did not have an opinion about him; only 1 percent did not have a view about Obama.
 
Source: The Gallup Organization, July 2009.  

No Deficit of Public Concern 08/11/2009 

Deficits are not usually a top concern for the public. The numbers are so big, they are hard to understand. But there is evidence from recent polls that the deficit is rising in terms of its importance. In a new NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll, for example, 36 percent of those surveyed said the president and Congress should worry more about boosting the economy even though it may mean larger budget deficits now and in the future, but a solid 59 percent said they should worry more about keeping the deficit down, even though it may mean it will take longer for the economy to recover. When asked in the poll what concerned them most about President Obama, the top response, given by 33 percent, was that he had spent too much money. In the poll, the Republican Party led the Democratic Party by 6 points as the party that would do a better job of reducing the deficit; in January 2008, the Democrats led the Republicans by 22 points.  

Source: NBC News/Wall Street Journal, July 2009.