Datapoints

Divided on Healthcare 08/06/2009 

In a 1938 Gallup poll, 81 percent of interviewees said that the government should be responsible for providing medical care for people who are unable to pay for it. In 1991, when Gallup repeated the question, a virtually identical 80 percent said this was a government responsibility. Those consistent responses help explain why the healthcare issue is a hardy perennial of American politics. A compassionate nation wants to help the less fortunate. Fox News and Opinion Dynamics recently asked two questions about government’s responsibility that were framed differently from the Gallup questions. One-third of respondents said it was the responsibility of the federal government to make sure all Americans who want a job have a job. A larger proportion, 51 percent, said it is the responsibility of the federal government to make sure all Americans have healthcare. Forty-six percent disagreed.

Source: Fox News/Opinion Dynamics, July 2009.

Healthcare Coverage 08/03/2009 

The Gallup Organization recently looked at 29,000 interviews conducted in June and found that 84 percent of Americans had health insurance and 16 percent did not. These responses are consistent with the findings from other polls. Most Americans who have coverage are highly satisfied with it. In a new Fox News/Opinion Dynamics poll, 39 percent described the quality of their current health insurance as excellent and another 45 percent as good. Thirteen percent described it as only fair, and 3 percent as poor. Eighty-nine percent of Republicans, 80 percent of independents, and 81 percent of Democrats said their coverage was excellent or good. The high level of satisfaction insured Americans profess is one of the reasons that the public and many members of Congress appear to be getting nervous about Obamacare.
 
Note: Asked of those with insurance.
Source: Fox News/Opinion Dynamics, July 2009.

 

The Black-White Confidence Gap 07/29/2009 

Last summer, Gallup asked people about how much confidence they had in their local police to treat blacks and whites equally. Nearly three-quarters, 73 percent, said they had a great deal or quite a lot of confidence. However, the responses from blacks and whites in the survey were sharply different. Eighty-one percent of whites but only 45 percent of blacks had high confidence that their local police treat the races equally. But there are reasons to be optimistic. In a new study of attitudes toward the police in Los Angeles, a city in which black-white tensions have been sharp, the police force is getting its highest ratings since 1991. In the Greenberg Quinlan Rosner/Public Opinion Strategies poll, 81 percent of white self-identified voters and 68 percent of black voters approved of the job being done by the Los Angeles Police Department. Sixty-seven percent of whites and 68 percent of blacks approved of the job L.A. Police Commissioner Bill Bratton is doing.

Source: The Gallup Organization, June 2008.  

Promoting Democracy Abroad 07/24/2009 

Americans share President George W. Bush’s view that America would be safer if there were more democracies, but they have always balked at the idea of actively promoting democracy abroad. A July CBS News poll that asks respondents whether the United States has a responsibility “to actively promote democracy around the world” confirms the pattern. Thirty-one percent of respondents think that the United States is responsible for the promoting democracy abroad, but 60 percent of those polled do not think the United States has this responsibility.

A bare majority of Republicans (51 percent) and strong majorities of Democrats (63 percent) and independents (62 percent) agree that democracy promotion is not America’s responsibility. Americans have always been reluctant internationalists, aware of the global role that the United States must play, but at the same time, concerned about the costs that come with such responsibility.

Source: CBS News, July 2009.

A Non-stimulating Stimulus? 07/22/2009 

President Obama has been in office for six months, and many polls ask Americans to evaluate him at this juncture. A July CBS News poll shows that 48 percent of respondents approve of Obama’s handling of the economy, which is lower than the percentage of respondents that approved in April (61 percent) and June (57 percent).

When asked what kind of impact the economic stimulus has had on the economy so far, 21 percent of those polled say it has made the economy better, 15 percent of respondents think that it has made things worse, and 60 percent of respondents say the stimulus has had no impact. Those surveyed are more optimistic about the stimulus’s long-term impact; 42 percent of respondents expect the stimulus to improve the economy in the long run, 21 percent of respondents believe it will make it worse, and 29 percent say that the stimulus will ultimately have no impact.

Source: CBS News, July 2009.

Quality of Life 07/20/2009 

In recent years, black women have made significant advancements in educational attainment and in the labor market, but the same cannot be said for black men. A May CNN/Essence/Opinion Research Corporation poll finds that the public shares that impression, too. Around six in ten whites and blacks believe that the quality of life for black women has improved over the past ten years. Fifty-eight percent of white respondents say that the quality of life is better for black men, but only 36 percent of black respondents believe circumstances have gotten better.

Source: CNN/Essence/Opinion Research Corporation May 2009.

Lunar Landing 07/17/2009 

In a May 1961 speech, President John F. Kennedy announced an ambitious goal for the nation: “landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to earth” before the decade was out. The nation responded, and the United States accomplished that goal 50 years ago this month. In 1959, the Gallup Organization asked Americans whether a man would land on the moon by 1980. Fifty-two percent of those surveyed thought the landing would happen, but 39 percent of respondents were skeptical. 

A May Pew Research Center survey reveals that more respondents spontaneously name the space program or landing a man on the moon as the United States’ greatest achievement in the past half-century. Our enthusiasm for space exploration has survived significant setbacks such as the Challenger and Colombia disasters. Our support for a space program, however, is almost always greater than our willingness to pay for it.

Source: The Gallup Organization, 1959.

Voter ID 07/15/2009 

A June Fox News/Opinion Dynamics poll asks Americans whether it is a good idea to require voters to show photo identification at their polling places before voting. Eighty-three percent of respondents think it is a good idea because it will help to avoid fraud, while 15 percent of those polled think that a photo identification requirement is a bad idea because it could discriminate against people who do not have a driver’s license or another form of identification. Large majorities of Democrats, Republicans, and independents agree on the importance of photo identification for voters.

Source: Fox News/Opinion Dynamics, June 2009.

Sotomayor's Views 07/13/2009 

Senate hearings on the Supreme Court nomination of Sonia Sotomayor begin today, and Americans’ initial impressions of her are positive. Fifty-four percent of respondents in a May Gallup poll say that they would like to see the Senate confirm her. Around three in ten individuals polled in May and June by Quinnipiac University say that Sotomayor is more liberal than they would like, while 5 percent of respondents say she is not liberal enough, and slightly more than four in ten respondents report that she is “about right.” When asked by Gallup/USA Today in late May about her views on important issues, 49 percent of respondents believe that Sotomayor’s views are mainstream, and 30 percent say that they are too extreme. Two in ten respondents do not have an opinion.

Source: Gallup/USA Today, May 2009.

Military Matters 07/10/2009 

Since 1973, the Gallup Organization has asked Americans about their confidence in the country’s most important institutions. A new June poll, which examines public opinion of 16 U.S. institutions, shows that Americans hold the military in the highest regard, with 82 percent of respondents reporting that they have a great deal or quite a lot of confidence in it. The next most highly ranked institution is small business, which 67 percent of respondents rate highly. Congress and big business are the least esteemed of the 16 institutions, and are rated highly by only 17 percent and 16 percent of respondents, respectively.

Source: The Gallup Organization, June 2009.