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Gallup Poll Tag

Posted by Fuzzy Slippers on January 12, 2016 4 Comments
Given the atmosphere of deep political division that has widened and deepened during Obama's presidency and the clear dissatisfaction among Republican primary voters, Gallup's latest poll on party identification makes sense. According to Gallup, the percentage of people who identify with either the Democrat or Republican party is "nearing historic" lows.
In 2015, for the fifth consecutive year, at least four in 10 U.S. adults identified as political independents. The 42% identifying as independents in 2015 was down slightly from the record 43% in 2014. This elevated percentage of political independents leaves Democratic (29%) and Republican (26%) identification at or near recent low points, with the modest Democratic advantage roughly where it has been over the past five years.
Despite knowing better, I am sometimes surprised by how very few Americans actually identify as Democrat.  It seems that they dominate the news and the culture, so it's easy to forget that they make up such an insignificant portion of the electorate.   I'm never surprised that Republicans make up an even more insignificant portion.

Posted by Fuzzy Slippers on December 28, 2015 8 Comments
The mainstream media is having a lot of fun reporting that Hillary is this year's Gallup "Most Admired Woman" for a "record 20th time." What they are leaving out, however, is that it appears that the long list of scandals and controversies that have plagued her since leaving her position as Secretary of State in early 2013 may be catching up with her (read LI's Hillary coverage here). When one looks more closely at the Gallup poll, it becomes clear that while still topping the list, Hillary has fallen quite sharply since December 2012. Take a look at the following:

Posted by Amy Miller on November 16, 2015 12 Comments
President Obama's approval ratings may be circling the drain, but a new Gallup poll released today shows that they're slightly less terrible than usual. Small miracles? American approval of Obama's handling of health care and the economy just clocked in at 44%, which represents a three-year high in both categories. The last time Obama did this well in the polls, he had just been elected to his second term; back then, an anemic 44% still represented a significant boost over the President's first term numbers. Gallup explains the trend:
Americans have not been as approving of Obama's performance on the economy since November 2012, just after the president was re-elected to a second term. The 44% he received then was similar to the 45% right before Election Day. Both scores were major improvements from the sub-40% ratings he'd received during much of his first term -- including a record low of 26% in August 2011 after contentious negotiations with Congress to raise the debt limit. Obama's best marks on the economy -- between 55% and 59% -- came during his first few months in office. Over the past three years, Obama's economic approval rating has fluctuated, reaching a low of 33% in 2014.

Posted by Amy Miller on October 22, 2015 19 Comments
A new Gallup poll released yesterday revealed that 58% of Americans support legal marijuana use. Sentiment peaked at 58% in 2013 as well, before dipping sharply in 2014 and then recovering. This represents a high point in Gallup's 46-year history of polling on legal marijuana use. Back in 1969, only 12% of Americans backed legalization; 1977's polling revealed a 28% peak in support which dipped until 1993. Since then, we've seen a steady increase in support. marijuana use support october 2015

Posted by Amy Miller on October 19, 2015 14 Comments
A Gallup poll released today shows that the vast majority of Americans do not believe that handgun ownership should be limited to "authorized" persons like police or other law enforcement officials. Only 27% of Americans say they support this type of ban (with 72% opposing); additionally, 43% of Americans say they have a gun somewhere in the home, with 28% saying they own one personally. gallup handgun possession october 2015 chart

Posted by Amy Miller on October 14, 2015 6 Comments
Hillary Clinton's performance in last night's debate set off a maelstrom of media filings questioning everything (apparently) we thought we knew about the Democratic primary. Is Joe Biden finished? Did Hillary Clinton just knock Biden out of the running? Is Joe Biden even relevant now? Personally, I think many of these writers are overstating Clinton's performance. She sounded strong, but also rehearsed; that being said, nothing we saw last night should shock us. For all her crimes (give it time,) Hillary Clinton was a First Lady, a Senator, and Secretary of State. She knows how to handle herself. Should we use her lack of meltdown as evidence that Biden 2016 is a lost cause? On the whole, I think not. It's still too early---and Americans still like Joe Biden. A Gallup poll released today shows that 49% of Americans still have a favorable view of Biden; this is his best polling performance since Obama's 2009 "honeymoon" period. biden favorable unfavorable october 2015

Posted by New Neo on June 01, 2015 17 Comments
More Americans are finding certain behaviors morally acceptable that are nevertheless still widely considered unacceptable. In other words, approval (though still low) of these behaviors has been creeping up:
While a select few actions remain deeply taboo for much of the country, there has been an increasing shift to moral acceptability for some of these over time. Such actions include suicide (which 19% of Americans call "morally acceptable"), polygamy (16%) and cloning humans (15%).
Will they follow the route of once-disapproved-but-now-widely-approved behaviors such as premarital sex or gay/lesbian relationships? Or will they continue to remain in the dungeon like---and the low score of the following may surprise you, as it did me---adultery, which remains in the approval basement?:
On the other hand, "married men and women having an affair" has remained at the bottom of a list of 19 moral behaviors Gallup has measured, with only 8% considering it morally acceptable.
Not only is adultery at the bottom of the list, but I would wager it's the most highly disapproved behavior that is most widely engaged in.

Posted by William A. Jacobson on February 23, 2015 29 Comments
In the various speeches I've given since the summer Gaza conflict, I've predicted that the conflict would not move the public opinion needle much, if at all. That, despite snap surveys over the summer which suggested potential weakening of support. I also point out that some college campuses are anti-Israel bubbles, not reflective of the nation as a whole. Left-wing anti-Israel faculty in particular are isolated from the public on Israel, as they are on so many other things. Gallup just released its annual survey of opinions on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Except for a very recent drop in Democrat support, presumably because of the dispute over Bibi Netanyahu's appearance Congress, American support for Israel is as strong as ever. Seven in 10 Americans Continue to View Israel Favorably:
Even as relations between the leaders of Israel and the United States reportedly deteriorate over disagreement about how to handle Iran's nuclear program, Israel has retained its broadly favorable image in the U.S. over the past year. Seventy percent of Americans now view that country favorably, and 62% say they sympathize more with the Israelis than the Palestinians in the Mideast conflict. By contrast, 17% currently view the Palestinian Authority favorably, and 16% sympathize more with the Palestinians. These attitudes, from Gallup's Feb. 8-11 World Affairs survey, are unchanged from a year ago, suggesting that neither the evident friction between President Barack Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, nor the 50-day conflict between the Israelis and Palestinians in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip last year, greatly affected how each is perceived in the U.S.
Gallup Israel Palestinian Favorability Chart Feb 2015 What's particularly interesting is when forced to choose, American still choose Israel by close to historic proportions:

Posted by Amy Miller on February 18, 2015 24 Comments
By all accounts, this Administration seems to be having a hard time keeping its head above water---so why are its polling numbers improving? A Gallup poll released today reveals that, for all his troubles, President Obama has managed to force his personal approval rating back over the 50% mark, with 51% of American adults willing to say that they have a "favorable opinion" of Obama. A generic sort of benchmark---and completely separate from his job approval rating, which normally clocks in lower than general favorability---but still a significant one, because it serves as a hint about how well the Administration is doing in terms of optics, generally. Obama's approval ratings with regards to his handling of the economy and foreign affairs are also up, but still well below the 50% mark. Americans like the guy, but generally dislike his policies---what a bizarre piece of data. More from Gallup:
The recent improvement in Obama's economy and foreign affairs approval ratings mirrors the trajectory of his overall job approval rating, which was 40% in Nov. 3-9 Gallup Daily tracking but was 47% in the latest weekly average, through Feb. 15. The increase has been aided by more positive economic news, including lower gas prices, which have boosted Americans' perceptions of the U.S. economy's health to the best they have been since the 2007-2009 recession. The more positive economic news may also explain why his economic approval rating has increased more (up 10 percentage points) than his foreign affairs approval rating (up five points) since November. While the economy is getting better, Obama continues to deal with a challenging international environment, including the Ukraine conflict, the Islamic State's presence in Iraq and Syria, as well as the ongoing threats of international terrorism, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and North Korea and Iran. As a result, his foreign affairs rating remains on the low side relative to his 2009-2013 ratings.

Posted by Amy Miller on January 14, 2015 9 Comments
Republicans may have just executed a historical midterm coup, but the American people are still skeptical about the new Congress' ability to rebuild trust with the American people. The 113th Congress was famously divided---and famously unpopular. It ended 2014 with its approval rating bottomed out at 16%. A new poll conducted by Gallup at the very start of the 114th Congress shows that not much has changed: only 16% of Americans approve of the job Congress is doing, and a sky-high 76% of Americans disapprove of a body that has been at work for less than a month. This, of course, says less about faith in individual members, and more about how Americans feel in general about the way Washington has played politics over the past few years. The average American finds no enjoyment or catharsis in ugly floor fights and media battles, and the poll numbers reflect this disconnect between the glass-walled terrarium that is Washington politics, and the rest of the country. Still, data from previous sessions shows that this Congress still has an opportunity to redeem itself with its skeptical electorate. Gallup explains:

Posted by Amy Miller on January 03, 2015 21 Comments
Between the President's executive orders, a spiraling health care delivery infrastructure, and a bloated welfare state, candidates gearing up for a run in 2016 have no shortage of material for stump speeches and e-mail blasts. But, as anyone who has looked at the data from previous cycles knows, some issues move voters to the polls, while others move voters to remain on the couch rating movies on Netflix. Willingness to prioritize issues has been a problem for the right at least as long as I've been involved in politics. We worry that strategically promoting, say, conservative economic policies, means that we're somehow downplaying the importance of other issues such as abortion, immigration, or the country's whirling moral compass. I don't have a solution to this problem; but as a strategist, when it comes to choosing which issues to throw on the front burner during a political campaign, I look to the data. A new poll by Gallup rounds up the top concerns of Americans in 2014, and offers valuable insight for those looking to get an early start on platform building. 2014 was unique in that over the course of the year, four issues dominated the conversation enough to break double digits in the percentage of people who thought that particular problem was the nation's most troubling. Gallup explains how the numbers have shifted:

Posted by Amy Miller on November 03, 2014 9 Comments
Gallup's latest gun rights-themed poll shows that by and large, Americans haven't been swayed by high-profile shootings into ceding their Second Amendment rights. In the wake of the 2012 shootings at Newtown, 58% of Americans polled said they favored stricter laws governing gun ownership; since then, however, that number has dropped to 47%. Via Gallup:
The percentage favoring stricter gun sale laws in the two years since Newtown occurred has declined despite steady and tragic high-profile shootings in the U.S at schools, malls and businesses. This past week, shootings occurred at a Seattle-area school and of police officers in Sacramento and Placer County, California. Amidst events like these in 2014, and the resulting calls for stricter gun sale laws, the 47% who favor stricter laws is just above the historical low of 43% measured in 2011. Ten years ago, three in five Americans (60%) said they favored stricter laws regulating the sale of firearms, but support fell to 44% in 2009 and remained at that level in polls conducted in the next two years. Days after the Newtown shooting, support for stricter gun sale laws swelled. Since 2012, however, Americans have retreated from those stronger attitudes about the need for more gun control, and the percentage of Americans who say the laws should be less strict -- although still low -- has edged up.
Numbers reflecting the percentage of Americans who favor a law banning the private ownership of handguns is also low, with only around 26% supporting a ban: 9byfbvyise22kwqz5zbcaq

Posted by Amy Miller on October 27, 2014 7 Comments
Candidates have been criss-crossing their respective districts for well over a year now, laying out their platforms and making promises about how they'll bring change to the offices they hope to hold. But judging by Gallup's latest poll, Americans aren't necessarily buying what their potential representatives are selling. With just days to go before the election, the Congressional approval rating is still hovering just above its all-time low. Via Gallup:
Congressional job approval in October matches the 14% average found so far in 2014. The current approval figure is the lowest found in October of a midterm election year since Gallup began tracking this measure in 1974. Gallup has found that low congressional approval ratings before midterm elections are linked to higher seat turnover, especially for members of the president's party. For example, congressional job approval in October was 21% in 2010, and 23% in 1994, two years when the president's party lost a large number of seats.

Posted by Amy Miller on October 14, 2014 5 Comments
Any reasonable person keeping up with the news cycle knows that Democratic leadership doesn't inspire much confidence in the American people. Legislation dies in the Senate at the hands of a petulant majority leader; both the IRS and the DOJ have come under fire for targeting Americans based on political affiliation; our President golfs while the Middle East burns. In fact, one might say the only thing Democrats are really good at is riling up the base over token "hot button" issues that never go anywhere in Congress, but make for good primetime talkathon fodder. A new poll released by Gallup yesterday has quantified the skepticism of the American people, and shows empirical proof that the games Democrats play have serious consequences when it comes to the level of trust voters have in their ability to lead on the major issues. In late September, Gallup asked registered voters to rate the importance of 13 preselected issues, and then to identify which party they believed would do a better job handling those issues. The results looked like this: h7fjmcrciu6d7y5yx_-zjq

Posted by Amy Miller on September 30, 2014 4 Comments
A recent Gallup poll shows that Americans are fairly evenly divided in their beliefs about the proper roll of government. When asked to rate their preference on a scale of 1 to 5 (1 meaning the respondent prefers limited government, and 5 meaning the respondent prefers a government that takes active steps to improve the lives of citizens) 35% of Americans said that they would prefer Washington take a more limited role in their daily lives. 32%, on the other hand, favor big government, and the remaining third of respondents fell somewhere in between. Via Gallup:
Gallup has asked this question four times since 2010, and each time, Americans have divided themselves roughly into thirds favoring a more active government, a less active government, or something in between. This division is especially noteworthy because the government's role in solving the nation's problems has been arguably more salient in recent years during the housing crisis, financial crisis, economic recession, and passage of the Affordable Care Act.
Generally speaking, Republicans favor a smaller role for government, while Democrats are happy with expanding federal reach. One thing that Americans do seem to agree on, however, is the current level of influence policymakers in Washington have on our everyday lives:

Posted by Amy Miller on September 15, 2014 9 Comments
Gallup's new poll on Americans' level of trust in our three branches of government has revealed exactly what you would expect: they don't. We already know that likely voters, for the most part (but just barely,) have some idea of who controls the House and the Senate, but this new poll from Gallup offers a whole new perspective that could make that knowledge even more valuable to conservative campaigns as November looms ever closer. Via Gallup:
Americans have generally had the least trust in the legislative branch, consisting of the House of Representatives and the Senate, but never lower than the 28% who do so now. The prior low was the 31% measured in 2011, shortly after Congress and the president engaged in contentious debt-ceiling negotiations. Trust in the legislative branch had recovered slightly during the previous two years, to 34%, but is down significantly this year. As recently as 2007, 50% of Americans trusted Congress, but that trust has eroded amid a struggling economy and an era of intense partisan gridlock. This has been particularly acute since Congress was divided between a Republican House and a Democratic Senate after the 2010 elections.
This isn't surprising; between the stalemate in the Senate, cannibalism in the House, and no clear consensus on the part of conservatives as to how we should go about actually getting an agenda passed, it's no wonder America has exactly zero faith in either party's ability to get it right. The situation with trust in the executive branch doesn't look much better:
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