Archive for the ‘Gallup’ Category

Gallup: 49% "pro-choice", 47% "pro-life"…

May 6, 2022

… with partisan and regional skews.
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Let’s stick with the numbers…

For the past 15 years or so, roughly an equal number of people have self-identified as “pro-choice or pro-life..

In its most recent polling, Gallup pegs the split at 49%  pro-choice, 47% pro-life … within the margin of polling error … and tracking with respondents’ views on “moral acceptability”.

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So what to do?

About 1 in 5 (19%) think that abortion should be illegal in all circumstances … that’s about 40% of the pro-lifers.

About 1 in 3 (32%) think that abortion should be legal in all circumstances … that’s about 60% of pro-choicers.

But, a near majority (48%) — made up of some pro-lifers and some pro-choicers — think that abortion should be legal “only under some circumstances (e.g. rape, incest, health of mother).

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Spinning the numbers

Both pro-lifers and pro-choicers try to lay claim to the 48% who think abortion should be legal in some cases.

Pro-lifers emphasize that roughly 2 in 3 80% (19% + 48%) favor restrictions on abortion.

Pro-choicers emphasize that 80% (32% + 48%) are in favor of allowing abortions … neglecting the part about some restrictions.

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The partisan divide

No surprise, abortion views vary by political identification.

About 3 in 4 Republicans (76%%) think that abortion is morally acceptable.

But, about 2 in 3 Democrats think that abortion is no harm, no foul.

And. of course, Independents are split down the middle with 51% thinking that abortion is morally acceptable.

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State to state

Gallup acknowledges that abortion views on morally acceptability and restrictions varies state-to-date … but doesn’t provide polling numbers.

Seems reasonable to expect that the bluest  West Coast and coastal Northeast states are pro-choice and favor fewer restrictions (if any).

And, it seems reasonable to expect that the redest Heartland and Bible Belt states lean pro-life … and favor restrictions (some total).

So, the question boils down to: Is either group entitled to force its views and laws onto the other group.

Good luck forging a consensus on that question…

Posted in Abortion, Gallup, Polls & Surveys | 1 Comment »

Gallup – Majority now want gov’t “more hands off” …

October 19, 2021

A reversal since last year … when you-know-who was president
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Straight off the presses from Gallup…

> A majority (52%) of Americans say the government is doing too many things that should be left to individuals and businesses.

> The usual partisan divide is evident: 80% of Republicans think the gov’t is doing too many things; 78% of Dems think that the government is doing too little.

> That said, even Dems shifted 5 percentage points away from the notion that  “gov’t should be doing more”.

> The swing factor:  57% of independents now think that gov’t is doing too much … that’s up by 19 percentage points from Gallup’s 2020 survey.

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More specifically, 50% of Americans say that they prefer “less services & lower taxes” … 29% say to “keep taxes and services where they are now” … and only 19% prefer “more services & higher taxes”.

Gallup was silent on whether any of the 19% currently pay any income taxes … or if any of the 10% are willing themselves to pay higher taxes to pay for added services.

I’m betting the under on that one…

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The WSJ Take

The WSJ chalks the results up to buyer’s remorse …

In his few months in office, the President has made clear the era of Big Government is back.

But now that Americans are getting a better look at what this entails — higher taxes, more regulation, more spending and inflation — they are having second thoughts.

…. and opines that the results clearly indicate why Biden’s “$3.5 trillion entitlement spending plan” is only gaining traction among Democratic loyalists.

“If President Biden wants to understand why his $3.5 trillion entitlement spending plan is stalled in Congress, he might look at the new poll from Gallup.”

You think?

Posted in Gallup, Government & Politics, Government Angst, Polls & Surveys | Leave a Comment »

Nums: A historical perspective on race relations in the U.S….

August 13, 2019

Controversial topic, so we’ll stick to the numbers…

Everybody knows that Obama’s words eased the racial divide … and that Trump’s words are blowing the gap wide open

Right?

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Well, according to Gallup, that’s only partially right…

(more…)

Posted in Gallup, Polls & Surveys, Racial relations | Leave a Comment »

Gallup: Big government is biggest threat …

January 5, 2016

The mainstream media loves to bash big business and praise big government, but guess what … the American people don’t seem to buy it.

Each year, Gallup asks which is the bigger future threat: big business, big government or big labor.

For 50 years, big government has won that horse race … usually by a pretty big margin.

But, post 9-11 and during the Obama honeymoon period, the government-as-a-threat numbers dipped a bit.

That improvement was short-lived.

Most recently, the numbers have hit historic highs with about 70% thinking that big government is the biggest threat.

 

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The breakdown by political party affiliation has a few surprises to offer …

(more…)

Posted in Gallup, Government Angst, Polls & Surveys | Leave a Comment »

Nums: Before today’s employment report …

September 6, 2013

Here are some data points in advance of this morning’s BLS Employment Report.

Gallup’s daily tracking report indicated a surge in the unemployment rate … averaging 8.5% … getting as high as 8.8% during the month.

 

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Source: Gallup

More data …

(more…)

Posted in BLS, Employment - Jobs, Gallup | Leave a Comment »

Nums: Gallup says unemployment surging …

August 22, 2013

You may remember that the BLS reported tha, for July,  the unemployment rate continued its decline … all the way down to 7.4%.

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Good news. right.

Not so fast …

(more…)

Posted in BLS, Employment - Jobs, Gallup, Polls & Surveys, Unemployment | Leave a Comment »

Gallup: Unemployment rate trending up, over 8%.

March 7, 2013

Seems like many folks have lost interest, but tomorrow, the official BLS employment numbers come out.

Initial unemployment claims are still hovering around 350,000 per week … suggesting that the employment picture is staying pretty stable.

As a cross-check to the government numbers, I like to compare them with Gallup’s daily tracking poll.

Hmmm.

Since mid-February , Gallup’s measured unemployment rate has been rising and, in the past week or so, has broken back up above 8%

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Wonder what the BLS will report tomorrow.

I’m betting the under …

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Posted in BLS, Employment - Jobs, Gallup, Unemployment | Leave a Comment »

Boing!

October 8, 2012

Gallup’s Daily Tracking Poll says that Romney got a 5-point bounce from the debates … Mitt +2, Obama –3 … putting the race dead even.

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Posted in 2012 Campaign, Gallup | Leave a Comment »

What’s up with Gallup?

October 1, 2012

Like most Romney supporters, I’m grabbing at straws to find hope in the recent polls.

Gallup has some recent numbers that have me scratching my head.

Last week, according to Gallup, Obama’s approval rating skyrocketed.

According to my analysis, Gallup had Obama’s approval jumping by an unprecedented 12 points in a single day.

Technical note: To isolate daily movements, I “unpacked” the 3 -day averages to see what the newest day’s score would have had to be to move the 3-day average.

Really?

The economy’s tanking and the Middle East is afire … and Obama’s approval jumps.

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Just doesn’t pass the smell test.

So, I did a little digging.

Here’s an article I picked up from earlier in the month.

Senior Obama Campaign adviser David Axelrod reportedly contacted The Gallup Organization to discuss the company’s research methodology after their poll’s findings were unfavorable to the President.

After declining to adjust their methodology, Gallup was named in an unrelated lawsuit by the DOJ. 

Probably unrelated to the numbers, but sure looks funny.

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Unemployment rate down to 8.3% … hmmm.

February 6, 2012

The Feds reported 243,000 new jobs in January … driving the unemployment rate down to 8.3%

Clear evidence that we’re on a roll, right?

Not so fast.

First, numerous sources have pointed out that another 1.2 million people got discouraged and stopped looking for work. They’re no longer counted as unemployed.

Second, as it does every year, the government revised its statistical methodology for the  January report.  The BLS footnotes say “As a result, household survey data for January 2012 will not be directly comparable with that for December 2011 or earlier periods.”

Hmmm.

Morw specifically, even the NY Times asks: Is the number real ?

How many jobs did the American economy add in January?

The Labor Department estimated on Friday that the economy gained 243,000 jobs.

The department also estimated that the economy lost 2,689,000 jobs in the month

The difference in the two numbers is in seasonal adjustment.

The actual survey showed the big loss in jobs.

The seasonal adjustments produced the reported gain of 243,000 jobs.

A reason to doubt the number is that there has been a tendency in this cycle for the seasonal factors to overstate moves, in both directions.

 If the seasonal adjustment was too large, then the gain should be smaller.

Double hmmm.

That’s why  I like to track Gallup’s unemployment estimates.  Over time, they’ve seemed reliable and — call me cynical — but, they’re less likely to be subject to political manipulation.

For openers, here’s what Gallup said prior to the government release:

The U.S. government’s January unemployment rate that it will report Friday morning will be based largely on mid-month conditions.

The mid-month reading normally provides a pretty good estimate of the government’s unadjusted unemployment rate for the month.

At mid-January, Gallup reported that its unemployment rate had declined to 8.3%, based on data collected through the 15th of the month.

OK, that squares with the Feds number.

But, importantly, Gallup also notes:

Gallup’s unemployment and underemployment measures show deterioration since mid-January.

While the unemployment rate of 8.6% for January is up only modestly from December, this overall increase subsumes the more negative trend of the most recent weeks.

In turn, this also seems consistent with Wednesday’s ADP report showing less job growth in January than in the prior month.

English translation: Expect February’s unemployment rate (reported first week of March)  to bounce back up … unless there’s a flurry of new hiring in early February.

Here’s the data …

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Ken’s Take:

Here’s what I said before, and I stand by it !

Pundits have been saying that Obama will be ok with a high unemployment rate in 2012 as long as the trajectory is in the right direction. That is, that unemployment is coming down.

Here’s my scenario: unemployment will creep back up and Obama will be facing a high unemployment rate that is rising.

That’s not good for the O-team.

Politically, Obama might have been better off if the rate had stayed closer to 9% for a while … he may be in the awkward position of having a high unemployment rate that’s going in the wrong direction.

It’ll be interesting …

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Posted in Employment - Jobs, Gallup, Unemployment | 3 Comments »

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