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AMERICAN.COM

A Magazine of Ideas

NUMBERS

By Karlyn Bowman & Karen Porter Friday, October 5, 2007

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

10-4-07 Professions and prestigeWhat Money Can't Buy
Physician specialists and chief executives continue to top the list of America’s highest paid workers. Higher pay, however, does not necessarily mean more prestige. According to a recent Harris poll, Americans have the highest regard for firefighters. Sixty-one percent say the profession has "very great prestige." Scientists (54 percent), teachers (54 percent), and doctors (52 percent) are close behind, but just 14 percent afforded business executives the same high prestige.
Source: Harris Interactive Poll, September 2007.

 

10-3-07- Political Health

Political Health
According to a new ABC News/Washington Post poll, a majority (56 percent) of Americans say that they trust Democrats to do a better job of handling the nation’s health care than Republicans (26 percent). Still, they remain skeptical of the abilities of the top Democratic presidential contenders in this area. When asked in a separate poll whether candidates Hillary Clinton, John Edwards, and Barack Obama possessed the ability “to make the right decisions about health care,” less than half the participants expressed confidence in each candidate. Source: ABC News/Washington Post, September 2007; CBS News, September 2007.

 

 

10-5-07-Infrastructure

Infrastructure Improvements?
After the collapse of a major bridge in August, Americans turned critical attention to the condition of their country’s infrastructure. Sixty-four percent told CBS News pollsters that federal spending on “rebuilding and maintaining roads and bridges” needed to be increased. When asked whether they would be willing to pay for such improvements, however, a slimmer majority stepped up. Fifty-six percent supported raising taxes to finance the improvements.
Source: CBS News Poll, August 2007.

10-2-07-Govt role in housing crisis

 

Foreclose?
Should Washington be doing more to combat the subprime mortgage crisis? The public is skeptical. According to a recent NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll, a majority of Americans (59 percent) believe that preventing home foreclosures is not the role of the federal government.
Source: NBC News/Wall Street Journal, September 2007.

 

 

10-1-07-Money and sex

Money and Sex
Is it surprising that women and men have strikingly different views about money? While 61 percent of men agree with the statement “People who make a lot of money deserve it,” just 47 percent of women feel that way. Fifty-seven percent of men but only 44 percent of women say that making more money is a major personal goal. And more men than women dream about getting rich.
Source: The Gallup Organization, November 2006.