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Stories tagged with “Gallup”

NEWS FLASH

POLL: Majority Oppose Openly Gay Boy Scout Leaders | Gallup was ranked as one of the least accurate polling firms in the 2012 election, but a new survey presents an astonishingly disappointing result even if it is skewed. According to the poll, only 42 percent of voters believe openly gay adults should be allowed to serve as leaders for the Boy Scouts of America, while 52 percent stand opposed. Even among Democrats, support only reached 60 percent. Other LGBT questions had more positive responses, including inheritance rights for gay couples (78 percent support), health insurance and employee benefits for gay couples (77 percent), and even adoption rights for gay couples (61 percent). It’s unclear what informs the bias against Scout leaders, but the result does not bode well for public awareness about the basics of LGBT identities.

NEWS FLASH

Poll: Obama Approval Up 7 Points After DNC | President Obama’s approval rating climbed to 52 percent, his highest rating in many months, according to Gallup’s latest poll. The last three days of the Democratic National Convention gave him a 7 percent bump in approval over three days, with a 3 percent hike in just the past 24 hours. Mitt Romney received no bump in the polls from the RNC, dropping from 47 percent before the convention to 46 percent. The DNC also surpassed the RNC in ratings; even competing with the opening night of NFL football, more people tuned in to Bill Clinton’s DNC speech than the second half of the Cowboys-Giants game.

NEWS FLASH

Poll: Americans Think Obesity Is A More Serious Problem Than Smoking | According to a Gallup poll released this week, Americans now believe obesity is a more serious problem than smoking. In the study, 81 percent of adults said obesity was an “extremely serious” or “very serious” social problem, compared with only 67 percent who reported the same about smoking. This is the first time since Gallup began asking the question in 2003 that Americans indicated that they are more worried about global obesity than smoking.

–Angela Guo

By Guest Blogger on Jul 20, 2012 at 12:10 pm

NEWS FLASH

POLL: Moral Acceptance Of Same-Sex Couples Is ‘The New Normal’ | Following up on its recent polls on same-sex marriage and reactions to President Obama’s endorsements, Gallup has released a new poll looking at the the moral acceptance of same-sex relationships. A majority of Americans (54 percent) believe gay or lesbian relationships are morally acceptable, prompting Gallup to dub its release, “U.S. Acceptance of Gay/Lesbian Relationships Is the New Normal.” Support has been rising steadily for moral acceptance, marriage equality, and the legality of relationships.

NEWS FLASH

POLL: Marriage Equality Support Strong Among Democrats And Independents | A new Gallup poll shows support for marriage equality steady at 50 percent nationwide. Both Democrats (65-34) and Independents (57-40) want same-sex marriage to be legal, but as David Badash notes, Republicans are becoming increasingly anti-gay (22-74). Again proving that the Bishops do not speak on behalf of their congregants, 51 percent of Catholics said they support marriage equality. Respondents who were younger were much more likely to endorse the freedom to marry, as were individuals with more advanced educations.

Special Topic

The Ideology, Education, And Region Of The Top One Percent

By Zaid Jilani on Dec 6, 2011 at 1:10 pm

A humorous take on the one percent.

Yesterday, Gallup released a major polling survey that sought to identify the ideological and demographic differences between the richest one percent of Americans and the other 99 percent of the country. There are a number of interesting results.

First, the Gallup poll shows that the top one percent tends to identify as Republican more than the bottom 99 percent although not necessarily to identify as conservative more often (this should be viewed with the caveat that people who identify as conservative do not necessarily hold right-leaning views on economics):

The survey also found that the top one percent tends to be much more likely to have been through higher education, particularly postgraduate education:

When it comes to geographical distribution, the midwest has the least one percent:

For the full results, see the entire survey here.

Health

POLL: Americans Have Mixed Reactions To State Abortion Restrictions

By Igor Volsky on Jul 25, 2011 at 9:02 am

As a wave of abortion restrictions sweeps the nation, a new Gallup Poll conducted between July 15-17 finds that “large majorities of Americans favor the broad intent of several types” of laws limiting access to abortions, but have very “mixed or negative reactions to others.”

An overwhelming majority — 87 percent — supported “informing women of certain risks of an abortion in advance of performing it,” and 70 percent backed “requiring parental consent for minors and establishing a 24-hour waiting period for women seeking abortions.” Fifty-seven percent, however, said they opposed “laws prohibiting health clinics that provide abortion services from receiving any federal funds”:

Interestingly, the partisan divides are far greater than differences of opinion based on gender:

As the Guttmacher Institute reports, 19 states enacted 80 new anti-abortion laws in the first half of 2011, “up from 23 such laws enacted in 2010 and shattering the previous record of 34 set in 2005.” Eight states have passed laws restricting abortion coverage that is “offered in any private health plan (including coverage through an exchange), and six others have restrictions that apply only to coverage through health exchanges.”

LGBT

Nature Vs. Nurture Question Sets Up Stigmatizing False Dichotomies For Understanding Sexual Orientation

By Zack Ford on Jun 1, 2011 at 4:26 pm

Often polls show how the public is leaning on a particular issue, but other times they reveal how the respondents and sometimes even the pollsters have the issue all wrong. Gallup released a poll last week about where the public stands on what makes a person gay. Apparently they’ve been asking the question for some time, and there’s been a pretty even split between “nature” and “nurture” for the past 10 years:

Gallup uses the poll to conclude that people who believe same-sex orientation is inherent are more likely to support LGBT equality. However, the question has two serious flaws that actually contribute to the continued miseducation of the public. First of all, same-sex orientations and opposite-sex orientations form through the same process, so by asking about gays and lesbians as though they are different reinforces the belief that they actually are somehow different. Secondly, the answer to the question is not either/or; as scientists best understand sexual orientation, it is a “complex interaction of environmental, cognitive and biological factors.”

Most importantly, the answer to the question should be moot, and as a result, Gallup’s interpretation of the result are perhaps not entirely accurate. Given that sexual orientation is influenced by both biology and environment, how people answer the question does not actually address whether they think it is a choice or “inherent.” Sexual orientation is influenced by the environment and it is inherent, so the answer to this false dichotomy does not paint the whole picture.

Continued open discussion of the reasons for sexuality prove only to be an outlet for doubters to continue making their unfounded case. Like evolution and the age of the earth, scientists are no longer debating the causes of sexual orientation, so it should be up to journalists to be educating, not casting more doubt.

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