Views on the Terror Trials

Americans divide evenly on whether to try 9/11 suspects in U.S. civilian courts or military tribunals, a split – like so many – driven chiefly by partisan and ideological differences. Our latest ABC News/Washington Post poll asks whether suspects accused...

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November 17, 2009 in Iraq/Afghanistan Wars | Permalink | User Comments (7)

Sarah Palin: Rogue for President?

The buildup to her new book hasn’t eased Sarah Palin’s political challenges: Just over half of Americans in a new ABC News/Washington Post poll have an unfavorable opinion of her overall, as many say they wouldn’t consider supporting her for...

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November 16, 2009 | Permalink | User Comments (106)

Chasing Feathers

The University of Iowa School of Journalism and Mass Communication and the Gallup Organization gave their 2008 Iowa Gallup Award for Excellent Journalism Using Polls to "The Numbers" blog at a ceremony in Washington last night. My remarks represented an...

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November 12, 2009 | Permalink | User Comments (1)

Tomorrow's Elections: An Obama Referendum?

While spinmeisters from both sides will do their best after tomorrow’s results are in, it's a dicey business to draw broad conclusions from state and local off-year elections. The turnout's different and the issues and candidates are idiosyncratic, meaning conclusions...

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November 2, 2009 | Permalink | User Comments (16)

Schwarzenegger's Nastygram: One in 10 Billion?

What are the odds California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s acrostic nastygram could have happened by random chance? My opening bid is about one in 10 billion. That’s not the right answer, but it does provide a rough sense of what the...

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October 28, 2009 | Permalink | User Comments (18)

Executive Pay? Cut Away

The New York Times is reporting that the Obama administration plans to order deep cuts in executive compensation at companies that have received federal bailout funds – a move that draws broad and strong public support in our latest poll....

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October 21, 2009 in Economy | Permalink | User Comments (28)

Pols, Polls and Pushback

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich had some pretty harsh criticism of our latest poll today, charging in a radio interview that it was “deliberately rigged.” He's entitled, of course, to his opinion. But not to a distortion of the facts....

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October 20, 2009 | Permalink | User Comments (20)

On Nuclear Iran, Diplomacy and Sanctions are Preferred to Hostilities

With talks underway in Vienna today, a new ABC News/Washington Post poll finds that Americans overwhelmingly suspect Iran of trying to produce nuclear weapons – but by wide margins prefer diplomacy or economic sanctions to a military response by the...

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October 19, 2009 | Permalink | User Comments (4)

Polling, Politics and Nobels

While public reaction to Barack Obama's award remains to be seen, past Nobel Peace Prizes for political figures have not always reflected or engendered broad public support. In a Gallup poll in October 2007, for example, fewer than half of...

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October 9, 2009 in President Obama | Permalink | User Comments (32)

The War in Afghanistan: Reassessment, Eight Years On

Significant public compunctions mark the eighth anniversary of the war in Afghanistan – more a gradual shift in Americans’ attitudes than a sudden change, but a reassessment nonetheless, one that in many ways reflects the administration’s own. It’s underway elsewhere,...

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October 6, 2009 in Iraq/Afghanistan Wars | Permalink | User Comments (1)