Year: 2015

Most Professed Independents Really Aren’t

Buck Banks

5%

Percentage of the 2012 electorate who were true independents, who don’t lean toward either party, according to the American National Election Studies survey, notes Charlie Cook. In 2012, the ANES survey “found that 87 percent of independents who, when pushed, conceded they feel closer to the Democratic Party wound up voting for Obama. The same percentage of independents who admitted a soft spot for Republicans went for Romney. In 2008, Obama’s hope-and-change campaign drew a whopping 91 percent of Democratic-leaning independents, while McCain won 82 percent of independents who leaned Republican. Simply put, many of the people who self-identify as political independents are, for electoral purposes, partisans. They vote almost as predictably as Americans who simply label themselves as a Democrat or a Republican.”

Climate Change Doesn’t Worry Most Americans

Buck Banks

1 in 4

Americans are extremely or very worried about climate change, according a new poll by the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. About one out of three Americans are moderately worried and the highest percentage of those polled — 38 percent — were not too worried or not at all worried. Despite high-profile preaching by Pope Francis, only 36 percent of Americans see global warming as a moral issue and only a quarter of those asked see it as a fairness issue. “As top-level international negotiations to try to limit greenhouse gas emissions start later this month in Paris, the AP-NORC poll taken in mid-October shows about two out of three Americans accept global warming and the vast majority of those say human activities are at least part of the cause.”

Painkiller Addiction Touches Many Americans

Buck Banks

40%

Of Americans know someone who has been addicted to prescription painkillers, including 25% who say it was a close friend or family member and 2% who acknowledge their own addiction, the Washington Post reports from a Kaiser Family Foundation survey. More from the survey: 16% say they know someone who has died from an overdose of prescription painkillers, including 9% who say that person was a family member or close friend; 56% of the public say they have some personal connection to the issue; prescription painkiller abuse is most common among whites (63%) and the affluent (63% among people with incomes of $90,000 or more).

November Another Robust Jobs Month

Buck Banks

211,000

Number of jobs the American economy created in November, the government reported Friday, “a robust showing that all but guarantees policy makers at the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates for the first time in nearly a decade when they meet this month,” the New York Times reports. “The unemployment rate held steady at 5 percent, unchanged from October.”

Mo. Lawmaker Proposes Gun Laws Similar to Abortion Laws

Buck Banks

Since Missouri holds the rank as one of the strictest abortion regulation states in the country, it is logical we borrow similar restrictions to lower our horrific gun violence rates.

— Missouri state Rep. Stacey Newman (D), introducing a bill to apply “the restrictions placed on women seeking abortion services to all prospective firearm purchasers, such as a requirement that anyone buying a gun first watch a 30-minute video on fatal firearm injuries,” St. Louis Magazine reports.

Trump Continues to Widen Lead, Bush Recedes

Buck Banks

36%

A new CNN/ORC poll finds Donald Trump alone at the top of the Republican field with 36%, followed by Ted Cruz at 16%, Ben Carson at 14% and Marco Rubio at 12%. All other candidates have the support of less than 5% of GOP voters in the race for the Republican Party’s nomination for president. Jeb Bush is at just 3%. Key finding: “Trump is supported by 46% of Republicans without a college degree, compared to 12% for Cruz, 11% for Carson and 8% for Rubio.”