Attitudes toward Healthcare Law

Party Affiliated opinions of healthcare law



I thought this chart from USA Today was pretty interesting. The view that it goes "too far" is supported by 79% of republicans, opposed to 11% of democrats. Independents polled as 43%. 8% of democrats had no opinion and 4% republicans polled no opinion. The view that the law "is about right" is 35% amongst democrats compared to 5% of republicans. The attitudes listed in this graph have been a constant.

Are You Alone In the Dark?

I decided that I've been serious enough (for me anyway) in my past blogs, and when I found this headline and then data, I couldn't help but laugh (sorry). Midterm Elections have just happened, and I am still amazed to see that Gallup has such a variety of polls. Anyway, this is what I found.

 Although I laugh about it, I do have a very close relative who is afraid of the dark in any situation, so I did find this data to be interesting and relevant. From 1965 up until 2010 data has shown a surprising percentage of people who would be afraid to walk alone at night anywhere within a mile of their homes. From 1968 to 1975 there is a 14% increase in people who say they were afraid, and the percentages stay in the 40's, decreasing by 1998. Whether it was the boom in the film industry or a superstitious uprise, the dark scares enough people to make it a topic of discussion on Gallup.

Expected Christmas Spending in 2010 compared to the past four years

 

In the first graph there is a negligible difference in the amount of money people were estimated spending between 2006 and 2007. Between 2007 and 2008 however, there was a dramatic drop of $108 dollars, followed by a $61 drop in 2009. This year shoppers are expected to spend $715, only a $15 decrease from 2009. Although these numbers seem insignificant, the second graph is a survey asking if they spent more, less, or about the same. What I found interesting in this poll was not the % of people who spend more than the average Americans, but the 16% increase in people who said they paid less in 2008 and also in 2008 a 12% decrease in people who said they paid about the same. From 2008 to the estimates for 2010, the percentage of people who surveyed spending less and spending about the same decrease and increase at about the same rate.

Joe approval for President compared to Congress

I thought this graph of averages was very interesting because of the constant relationship of lower percent approval for congress as compared to percent approval for president, but also because there is a smaller difference between the two when there was a change in the president's party affiliation. From Carter to Reagan there was a 6 point drop, and then after Reagan a 16 point increase, when Clinton came into office, a 12 point drop, and then G.W. Bush, an 11 point drop, and a 15 point rise to democratic president Obama. Percent Congressional approval goes up in these change in party affiliation years.

Life Rankings among different age groups

I found this graph very interesting people ages 15-24 rated their lives as comfortable as those ages 35-44 and 45-54, also (not surprisingly) the 55 and older population had both the worst possible life rating and the best at 7.12 out of 10.

I found this graph to be interesting because while from 1991 the US population's confidence in newspapers dropped from 39% to 25%, our confidence in tv news decreasing from 46% to 22%, what is most interesting is about half way through 2007 the confidence for both newspapers and tv news were about equal in percentage, and now currently Newspapers hold higher confidence than do tv news (contrasting from the earlier trends).

U.S. Consumer Spending

http://www.gallup.com/poll/143288/Consumers-September-Spending-Matches-2010-Low.aspx


I thought this was a very interesting poll because it shows the U.S.'s economic breakdown, literally. 2010 has seen a significant drop in consumer spending since January-September 2008.