Even Democrats think that the US is less respected around the world today than it was a year ago

It isn't very surprising that by wide margins Republicans and Independents think that the US is less respected than it was a year ago, but by a very slim 27 to 25 percent margin even Democrats think that we are less respected.  From Fox News:

. . . Among Democrats, 25 percent say the U.S. is more respected around the world today. That’s a 27 percentage-point drop from 52 percent last year.  Twenty-seven percent of Democrats say the U.S. is less respected, up from 11 percent. 

A slim 51-percent majority of Independents thinks the U.S. is less respected, up from 38 percent last year.  At the same time, the number of independents who think the country is more respected fell to just 9 percent, down from 27 percent.  

Among Republicans, 72 percent think the country is less respected around the world today than it was five years ago, 6 percent say more respected and 22 percent say it’s unchanged. The views are generally unchanged from last year.  

The Fox News poll is based on land-line and cell phone interviews with 900 randomly chosen registered voters nationwide and was conducted under the joint direction of Anderson Robbins Research (D) and Shaw & Company Research (R) from Sept. 6 to 8. . . .

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Pew Poll on support for Gun Control

The Pew Poll is available here.

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New Quinnipiac poll of Colorado voter shows most oppose state's new gun control laws

From Quinnipiac University:

. . . All voters oppose 54 - 40 percent the stricter new gun control laws which led to the recall effort. Democrats support the stricter laws 78 - 16 percent, while opposition is 89 - 7 percent among Republicans and 56 - 39 percent among independent voters. Women are divided on the stricter laws 48 - 45 percent, with men opposed 64 - 33 percent.  

"With wide partisan and gender divisions, Colorado voters oppose the state's stricter new gun control laws, but they don't want to recall State Senate President John Morse or Sen. Angela Giron because they supported these laws," said Tim Malloy, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute. "Philosophically, voters don't want a recall election every time they disagree with a legislator. They'd rather deal with it every four years." . . .

There is some disconnect between the individual parts of the gun laws and the overall feelings that people have to the new laws.  Could it be that while they support background checks in principle, the fees for transfers aren't popular?

Colorado voters support 82 - 16 percent requiring background checks for all gun buyers. Support is strong among all groups.

Voters are divided 49 - 48 percent on a ban on the sale of high-capacity ammunition magazines that hold more than 15 rounds.

Colorado's new gun laws will make the state less safe, 40 percent of voters say, while 37 percent say the state will be safer and 16 percent say the laws won't make a difference.

Background checks and a limit on magazines could not have prevented the Columbine or Aurora mass killings, voters say 68 - 25 percent, and could not have reduced the number of people killed in those shootings, voters say 56 - 40 percent. . . .

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Gallup: Obama's Economic Approval Slips to 35%

There is a positive side for Obama in these numbers.  He had an even worse approval rating for the economy during the summer of 2011.  

While Obama's job rating on the economy is down from June, and on the low end of the range Gallup has recorded since 2012, it is still better than the 26% it fell to in the summer of 2011. That period represents a recent low point for Americans' views of both Washington leaders and the economy, owing to the clash between Obama and the Republicans in Congress over raising the federal debt ceiling in July 2011. . . .

A Fox News poll indicates that even most Democrats don't believe that Obama is offering any new ideas to finally get the economy going.  Overall, only 20 percent of Americans think that Obama is offering new ideas (click on next two figures to make numbers larger).

 The Fox News poll also has Obama obtaining the lowest approval rating of his presidency.

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Who's "political IQ" is higher?

If you want to do the survey, I suggest you do it before you click on the picture above to make it larger.

PEW Research has a computer survey (nonrandom) on political IQs available here.  If you want to do the survey, I suggest you do it before you click on the picture above.  Generally men and those with the most education do better on the survey.  I wouldn't have guessed where older or younger people would have out preformed each other.  Older people seem to be much more likely to correctly identify people and younger people seem more likely to identify flags and symbols.

Yet, these are trivial questions.  If only 57% can identify China's flag or 55% can identify who is the attorney general, I can only imagine that a much smaller percent would correctly guess the content of a particular law.

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Rasmussen survey finds drop in support for gun control

From Rasmussen:

Americans are evenly divided on whether the United States needs tougher gun control laws, but most still agree that existing laws need to be more strictly enforced. 

Forty-six percent (46%) of U.S. Adults believe the United States needs stricter gun control laws, according to a new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey. But just as many (46%) say the country does not need stricter gun laws. (To see survey question wording, click here.) . . .

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Washington Post/ABC News: "Eighty-six percent of African Americans disapproved of the not guilty verdict [in Zimmerman case] with just 9 percent approving"

Here is my puzzle: Hispanics and Blacks make up the same share of the Washington Post/ABC News sample, but they only report the breakdown for blacks, not Hispanics.  Why?

Eighty-six percent of African Americans disapproved of the not guilty verdict with just 9 percent approving, according to the Washington Post-ABC News poll on Monday. That’s compared to 51 percent of whites who supported the verdict and 31 percent who disapproved.
Reactions to the verdict also split across party lines, with 22 percent of Democrats approving of the verdict and 62 percent disapproving, while 65 percent of Republicans approve of the verdict compared to just 20 percent who disapprove. . . .
According to the poll, 81 percent of African Americans think Zimmerman should be charged by the federal government for violating Martin’s civil rights, while just 3 percent think he should not be charged. Only 27 percent of whites think Zimmerman should be charged by the federal government compared to 59 percent who think he should not be charged. . . .

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Which side cares most passionately about the gun control issue?

The Pew Research Center has an interesting poll from May (it was similar to the another Pew poll from April).  Another poll by Gallup shows that there is not a lot of interest in gun control generally.  This is consistent with another poll that showed that most Americans would prefer that the Senate move on to issues other than gun control.

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Despite Obama's claims, top Obama official did leak information on Bin Laden raid

With all the scandals, the Obama administration already has its honest being questioned.  A new WSJ/NBC poll show that 55 percent believe that the IRS scandal raises questions questions about the administration’s “overall honesty and integrity.”   From Politico:

Panetta also disclosed classified information designated as “top secret” and “secret” during his presentation at the CIA awards ceremony, says the draft IG report published Wednesday by the Project on Government Oversight. . . .The disclosure of the IG report could complicate the Obama administration’s claims that senior officials have not leaked classified information. Last spring, Republicans publicly attacked President Barack Obama and his top aides, alleging that the administration leaked national security secrets to burnish Obama’s standing for his re-election bid.
The release of the findings in the draft report also raises questions about why the findings have been under wraps for so long, and which of the document’s conclusions were known to White House officials prior to last November’s election. . . .

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