The
Program for Public Consultation carried out a different kind of budget poll -- they asked each of their respondents to generate a package of tax increases and spending cuts sufficient for substantial deficit reduction, then averaged the results.
The outcome was not what you might expect. The mean package included twice as much tax increase as spending cut: big deficit-reducing moves included substantial income tax increases for the highest brackets and deep cuts in defense spending. Republicans cut less spending than Democrats, as did people who identified as "very sympathetic to the Tea Party." Hardly anybody likes the reduction of the estate tax. Why is the public consensus so different from the Washington consensus?
Read the full report (.pdf) Or
try the interactive budget exercise.
posted by escabeche
on Mar 6, 2011 -
52 comments
As reported a few hours ago in
The Australian, the right wing faction of the Australian Labor Party
rolls on Rudd and a caucus meeting is scheduled for 9 tomorrow morning, where it's predicted that he'll lose the ballot. One senior party source said: "This crypto-facist made no effort to build a base within the party and now his only faction - Newspoll - has deserted him. He is gone."
posted by unliteral
on Jun 23, 2010 -
59 comments
Americans like science. But they think much less highly of American scientists than American scientists themselves do. Most scientists also rate media coverage of science as only fair or poor. Yet public knowledge of some scientific facts is .... not that bad (Section 7). A Pew Research Report reveals all.
posted by binturong
on Jul 13, 2009 -
38 comments
80 percent of Americans say global warming is real and poses a threat to humanity. Which is good because if the global temperature raises by
4 degrees we're all dead. However only 44 percent would be willing to face any financial hardship in the name of a solution.
posted by Artw
on Aug 10, 2008 -
89 comments
The poll tax caused massive rioting in the UK. Will the
pole tax move Texans to do the same? There's an interesting
class-war aspect to the story. The
bill specifies that the revenue generated will support sexual assault prevention programs, though the bill's legality is
being litigated.
posted by aerotive
on Jan 8, 2008 -
51 comments
And we're off! Prime Minister John Howard has set the date for the Australian Federal election as November 24th, meaning we're up for a long six-week campaign. With Kevin Rudd leading the PM by
between 16 to 18 points (depending on who you read) in recent opinion polls, this election seems the most likely to provide a change of Government since Howard was first elected 11 years ago. Antony Green's usual excellent election guide is
up and running here, along with an
excellent calculator which shows which seats are up for grabs dependent on a
2 party preferred swing. You might also want to check out the
Vote-O-Matic, a fun but entirely disposable quiz which aims to help you decide who you'll vote for.
[more inside]
posted by Effigy2000
on Oct 13, 2007 -
603 comments
Poll: Americans see gloom, doom in 2007. Another terrorist attack, a warmer planet, death and destruction from a natural disaster are predicted by most Americans. 35 percent predict the military draft will be reinstated and one in four, 25 percent, anticipates the second coming of Jesus Christ.
posted by stbalbach
on Dec 31, 2006 -
67 comments
What Makes a Muslim Radical? Gallup polls 9000 Muslims in 9 countries and separates the Moderates from the Radicals. Most of the results are counter to "Conventional Wisdom". The most important stuff is on
the last page of 5, including the methodology for deciding who was radical and who was moderate
(in small print). Let's all get out our copies of
How to Lie With Statistics and see if this survey is fatally flawed, shall we?
posted by wendell
on Nov 20, 2006 -
42 comments
"Do you want to see niggers in the state capital with their feet on the desk?"
"This newspaper believes in white supremacy, and it believes that the poll tax is one of the essentials for the preservation of white supremacy." From
"Suffrage in the South" Part I, published January 1st, 1940 [mi]
posted by orthogonality
on Nov 17, 2005 -
50 comments
Understanding elections beyond the red and blue axis. Since 1987, the Pew Research center has been conducting a political survey that divides voters into various
typologies based on core beliefs-- upbeats and disaffected, enterprisers and bystanders -- and tracking political opinions and votes. The
biggest trends have been the rise of disadvantaged pro-government conservatives and the shift of the middle to the right. Fortunately, there is a
survey that will determine your type. Where does the typical MeFi visitor fit?
(Hint from the typology: "Liberals- Affluent and highly secular...ideologically consistent on social issues, foreign policy and the role of government..nearly four-in-10 cite the Internet as their main source of news.")
posted by blahblahblah
on May 11, 2005 -
41 comments
Why You Should Ignore The Gallup Poll This Morning - And Maybe All Of Theirs If you support the Dems, you might want to pass this on!
"This morning we awoke to the startling news that despite a flurry of different polls this week all showing a tied race, the venerable Gallup Poll, as reported widely in the media (USA Today and CNN) today, showed George W. Bush with a huge 55%-42% lead over John Kerry amongst likely voters. The same Gallup Poll showed an 8-point lead for Bush amongst registered voters (52%-44%). Before you get discouraged by these results, you should be more upset that Gallup gets major media outlets to tout these polls and present a false, disappointing account of the actual state of the race. Why?"...
posted by Postroad
on Sep 17, 2004 -
58 comments
World wants Bush out. "Only one in five want to see Bush re-elected," "Senator Kerry was particularly favoured in traditionally strong US allies." Should America take into consideration the international support of their presidential hopefuls, or can they really go it alone in today's global community?
posted by krisjohn
on Sep 8, 2004 -
32 comments
US TV news too liberal,
say Americans. Nearly half of Americans think its news media is too liberal despite the rise of controversial hard-right cable channel
Fox News. Only 14% of Americans believe the media to be too conservative, according to
a poll by
Gallup.
posted by MintSauce
on Oct 8, 2003 -
68 comments
Don't just stand there - Bustamante! Arnold Schwarzenegger would lose to Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante by five precentage points if the election were held today, according to a Field Poll of likely voters released today. Margin of error: 4.5%. How useful are polls like this when there are so many undecided factors still floating about?
Poll tabs and analysis here. [PDF]
posted by GriffX
on Sep 9, 2003 -
38 comments
Which 2004 U.S. presidential candidate are you? Think you know which candidate best aligns with your political ideals? You may be surprised. Me, I got 100% for
Howard Dean, who I'd never heard of before. I don't really believe that anyone sharing my political leanings is going to get anywhere near the White House, but it's nice to know that there's someone out there for me...
(ps. Posted
before, but I think that three years is a good in-between time, and it's about that time again.)
posted by majcher
on Jul 10, 2003 -
62 comments
One-in, one-out: the nominations. "Who should be granted honorary British citizenship and who should have it revoked?" The BBC's Today programme has its annual poll and this year, it claims, is a little different. Various celebrities, politicians etc will be giving their opinions and the result will be announced on New Year's Day. Who will you be voting for?
posted by Kiell
on Dec 18, 2002 -
6 comments
College Students Speak Out, and just 14% can identify the president of Pakistan, 37% would likely try to evade the draft, and 71% "do not believe American values are superior to the values of other nations." Is your local college breeding ignorant anti-Americanists?
posted by dack
on Jun 21, 2002 -
45 comments
Polls say blacks tend to favor checks.
"African-Americans ... are more likely than other racial groups to favor profiling and stringent airport security checks for Arabs and Arab-Americans in the wake of this month's terrorist attacks, two separate polls indicate."
"The findings by the Gallup Organization and Zogby International were
met with varying degrees of disappointment and disbelief by black activists and intellectuals, who struggled with explanations."
Could it be that income and education are more related to racialist attitudes than race itself?
posted by sigsegv
on Oct 2, 2001 -
16 comments
From 1972 to 1998, the number of American voters claiming to attend church regularly has stayed stable at 37%. The number who say they never attend church at all has risen from 14% to 33%. What affect will this have on American politics?
posted by Steven Den Beste
on Jul 8, 2001 -
31 comments
In Their Own Words: Why Americans Approve or Disapprove of Bush. Sample quote from one who approves: "Because he's from Texas & so am I." Sample from one who disapproves: "Because Bush is a weenie."
posted by acridrabbit
on Jul 6, 2001 -
31 comments
WSJ/NBC conducted a pretty extensive poll about the state of the country ranging from taxes to energy concerns to the Golden Dollar. I got the phone call to participate in the poll on Saturday and the questions were thought provoking and relevant...here are the results.
posted by Princess Buttercup
on Mar 8, 2001 -
5 comments
