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AMERICAN.COM

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By Karlyn Bowman & Karen Porter Friday, January 25, 2008

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

1-22-08-no quick fixNo Quick Fix?

Last Friday, President Bush laid out the principles of his economic stimulus plan, an attempt to mitigate the nation’s mortgage woes and ward off a recession. But according to a recent Gallup survey, most Americans believe there is no quick fix on the mortgage front. A third of respondents expect it will take four or more years for the housing market to recover; another 48 percent reckon it will take two to three years. Just 18 percent say the market will recover in one year or less. Democrats are more pessimistic than Republicans: four in ten Democrats, compared to 27 percent of Republicans and 34 percent of independents, expect that problems in the housing market will last four or more years. 
Source: The Gallup Organization, December 2007. 

 

1-21-08-Black voter identification

Black Party Loyalty

African Americans have long been considered one of the Democratic Party’s most loyal constituencies, with roughly eight in ten consistently voting Democratic in the presidential election. According to a recent Pew poll, however, younger blacks may be moving toward the “independent” camp. A small majority (52 percent) of blacks between the ages of 18 and 29 identified themselves as Democrats, compared to 68 percent of blacks between the ages of 50 and 64 and 77 percent of those 65 and older. Still, younger blacks were no more likely to identify as Republicans than older blacks. Source: Pew Research Center, January-October, 2007.

 

01-23-08-medicare benefits

Medicare Drug Benefit:

Seniors are Satisfied
According to a Harris Interactive/Wall Street Journal online poll conducted in late 2007, a striking 87 percent of seniors enrolled in a Medicare prescription drug plan reported being very or somewhat satisfied with it, a significant increase from the 75 percent that reported being very or somewhat satisfied with their plan in 2006. Seventy-five percent of seniors in the 2007 poll said their plan had saved them money on prescription drugs. Although critics had predicted that the drug plans would be difficult for seniors to navigate, the Harris Interactive/WSJ data suggest this hasn’t been the case. Eighty-three percent of respondents said that their drug plan had been easy to use, and only 12 percent said they had to switch medications because a drug they had been taking was not covered by their plan. Source: Online survey conducted November-December 2007.

  

 

1-25-08-lowdown on lobbyists

The Lowdown on Lobbyists

When it comes to the honesty and ethics of various professions, Americans rank lobbying among the lowest. According to a recent Gallup poll, just 5 percent of Americans say lobbyists have “very high” or “high” ethical standards, the lowest percentage recorded for any of the 22 professions listed by Gallup.  But some other prominent professions weren’t particularly highly rated, either. Twenty-three percent expressed high confidence in the honesty and ethics of TV reporters, 14 percent in those of business executives, and 9 percent in those of members of Congress.

Source: The Gallup Organization, November – December, 2007. 

 

 

1-24-08-congressional vote 2008

Decision 2008

As the country gets ready for “Super Tuesday,” Americans continue to focus their attention on the race for the White House. But what’s in store for the congressional elections? According to a mid-December Gallup/USA Today poll,  Democrats hold a substantial 13-point edge over Republicans among registered voters. This is even larger than the 11-point Democratic advantage that Gallup recorded before the November 2006 elections, in which the Democrats gained 30 House seats. Most political analysts expect the Democrats to pick up seats next November, albeit a smaller number than in 2006. Source: Gallup/USA Today, December 2007.