NUMBERS

By Karlyn H. Bowman and Daniel Holman Friday, August 17, 2007

Filed under: Numbers

A week's worth of data, compiled from the last five editions of our daily email newsletter.

The News We (Sometimes) Trust

Compared to those who get their news from television or the newspaper, people who receive news mainly from the internet are more likely to believe that news media organizations are politically biased. The internet audience also had a more unfavorable opinion of traditional news sources, with ten percent or more below the national average registering an unfavorable opinion of local, cable, and network television news. Finally, the internet news audience was most likely to feel that news organizations were "too critical of America." Fifty-three percent of internet news consumers agreed with this statement, compared to 42 percent of newspaper news readers and 38 percent of television news watchers.

Source: Pew Research Center for the People & the Press, August 2007.

The Supreme Court

Negative opinions about the Supreme Court have risen in several recent polls. As to the court’s ideological leanings, 36 percent in a new poll call it conservative and 35 percent middle-of-the-road. Only 14 percent describe the Court as liberal. When asked by another pollster whether the Court was too conservative, three in ten said it was. A plurality, 47 percent, characterized the Court as "generally balanced."

Sources: Pew Research Center, July 2007 (top); ABC News/Washington Post, July 2007 (bottom).

Note: In the ABC/Post poll, the proportion saying the court is too conservative has risen from 19 percent in 1986 to 31 percent today.

The Other 'L' Word

Is the 'Liberal' label still a pejorative in presidential politics? If it is, Senator Clinton has some work to do. When NBC News and the Wall Street Journal asked recently about Hillary Clinton's ideological leanings, 46 percent characterized her approach to issues as liberal. Another 35 percent called her approach moderate.

Source: NBC News/Wall Street Journal, July 2007.

Mortgage Malaise

Eight percent of Americans are very worried about making their mortgage payments over the next year, and another 7 percent are fairly worried. Still, the American public is slightly more inclined to have the private sector, rather than the federal government, oversee the mortgage market in order to avoid similar busts in the future.

Source: NBC News/Wall Street Journal, July 2007.

* Note: This question was asked of the 52 percent in the poll who said they had a mortgage.

Unmoved by Market Ups and Downs

In late July, 52 percent of those surveyed told NBC News and the Wall Street Journal the stock market's recent ups and downs had had no effect on their feelings about the country's overall economic conditions, but a third said the gyrations had made them less confident. In a separate question, 60 percent said the market's movement had had no effect on their financial situation.

Source: NBC News/Wall Street Journal, July 2007.

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