Groves Nomination: On the Move?

Roll Call reports this morning that the Senate majority leader, Harry Reid, D-Nev., has scheduled a vote Monday to attempt to break the two-month Republican hold on the nomination of Robert M. Groves to head the U.S. Census Bureau. Roll...

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July 10, 2009 | Permalink | User Comments (0)

Sarah Palin: Up Among Republicans?

Data analysis can be a subjective thing; so it is with today’s USA Today and Gallup coverage of their joint poll on Sarah Palin. USA Today’s p.1 piece says Palin’s resignation “actually has boosted her a bit among Republicans.” Gallup’s...

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July 8, 2009 | Permalink | User Comments (30)

In Iraq, Progress - and Problems

Tomorrow's deadline for withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraqi cities and towns is likely to be met there with a combination of delight – and apprehension. Most Iraqis never have appreciated the presence of U.S. troops on their soil; not...

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June 29, 2009 | Permalink | User Comments (1)

Mark Sanford and the Affairs of State

Mark Sanford’s behavior is, shall we say, not helpful politically – particularly in the base. The overview is not pretty at all: In a Gallup poll just last month, 92 percent of Americans said it was “morally wrong” for a...

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June 24, 2009 | Permalink | User Comments (3)

Iran's Election: The Odds of Fraud

An outfit called Terror Free Tomorrow claims in an op-ed in today’s Washington Post that the contested Iranian elections likely were not fraudulent, since a pre-election poll it sponsored showed the declared winner, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, with a big lead. TFT’s...

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June 15, 2009 | Permalink | User Comments (15)

Affirmative Action: Words Matter

Do you generally favor or oppose affirmative action programs for racial and ethnic minorities? Let me put that another way: Do you think affirmative action programs that give preferences to blacks and other minorities in hiring, promotions and college admissions...

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June 5, 2009 | Permalink | User Comments (18)

Hold on Groves: Mystery Hour at the Senate

Three weeks after Robert M. Groves sailed through his confirmation hearing to lead the U.S. Census Bureau, a Republican U.S. senator has placed the nomination on hold. As for who and why, it’s Mystery Hour at the U.S. Senate. A...

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June 4, 2009 in Favorite Posts | Permalink | User Comments (8)

"Medical Bankruptcies:" a Data Update

The academic group that put out a much-covered and deservedly much-debated study on so-called "medical bankruptcies" a few years ago has released an update today. In some important ways it improves on the earlier version, which I’ve blogged about before....

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June 4, 2009 | Permalink | User Comments (12)

Obama and the Muslim World

Ahead of President Obama’s speech tomorrow in Cairo, views of the United States in the Muslim world can best be described as better, but far from good. And views the other way – Americans’ attitudes about Islam – have their...

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June 3, 2009 | Permalink | User Comments (7)

What We Don't Know About China

What’s most interesting about public opinion in China, 20 years after Tiananmen Square, is what’s not asked there. Think about, say, confidence in the national government, elections, the military and the judicial system; views of national leaders; or satisfaction with...

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June 2, 2009 | Permalink | User Comments (0)