Post Due 10/26/10

Today I bring you a chart that describes American's beliefs about unregulated business. As one would expect, Democrats feel most strongly that businesses will harm society if they are not regulated by government. From the numbers, we can also see that Republicans feel more strongly about this topic. 75% of them disagree, compared to the 66% of Democrats that agree with the statement. We can also see that Americans, overall, are slightly more inclined to believe that businesses won't harm society if left unregulated by the government.

Post Due 10/19/10

Today I've got a chart from Gallup that shows American's opinions on openly gay Americans serving in the military in November 2004 and then again in May 2009. This is interesting because every single group of people has had in increase in overall support. One of the biggest surprises is that the group that had the largest change is the Conservatives (12% increase) and the people who attend church weekly (11% increase).

Post Due 10/12/10

This week, I bring you a table that shows which way registered independents are planning on voting in the 2010 elections. The voter turnout percentages are separated into two categories, "higher turnout" and "lower turnout". Which category a respondent falls under is determined by their answers to 7 questions, then they are put into either the "higher turnout" or the "lower turnout" categories. This data shows that the republicans have a strong lead among most independents. Republican leaning independents are more likely to be a "likely voter" than Democratic leaning independents.

Post Due 10/05/10

This week I bring something very interesting to the table. This is a line graph that shows how much confidence people have in the media. The first thing to look at here is the people's opinion of the media after September 11th, 2001. The gap widens a slight amount. Is this a coincidence? The gap might be too small to come to a conclusion. During the next period, 2004-2006, the lines make a dramatic cross. If I remember right, this is about  the time that US troops invaded Iraq. After that, the "% Not very much/None at all" line has been on the rise. Since mid-2007, people have been confused about what to believe. My belief is that people take their feelings of disapproval of governmental decisions and behavior out on the media because their delivering the bad news. I would be interested to see this graph with the four responses have their own trend line (Great deal, Fair amount, Not very much, None at all). This would show us the difference in people who have the extreme opinions.

Post Due 9/28/10

This poll shows the overall favorable ratings of the two major political parties. As you can see, since about the middle of 2005, the Democrats have been in the lead. This is due to the negative attitude toward President Bush and republican policy in general. But in January/February of 2010, they met for the first time in about 5 years.

I also thought this second chart was interesting because it shows the overall unfavorable ratings of the two major political parties. The first thing that jumped out at me from this chart was how choppy it was. It seems that people will have a stronger negative view at times than a positive one.

Post Due 9/21/10

            The poll I have this week is an interesting one. It shows the  number of people since 1957 that think their income taxes are "Too High", "About Right", and "Too Low". The first thing I noticed about this chart is that the "Too Low" line hasn't rose above 3% the entire time. I also noticed that the "Too High" and "About Right" lines adversely effect each other. As if those are the only two options. Another interesting point about this chart is that the first time the "About Right" line rose above the "Too High" line was in 2003, the year that the Bush tax cuts came around. You can also see that in 2009, the lines crossed again.

   

Post Due 9/14/10

        This poll is interesting because is shows that the Iraqi people have gained confidence in their own government from 2008-10. It is also interesting that the approval rating among the Iraqis toward United States leadership has gone down.. This raises the question that if the United States military presence in Iraq has been a positive one among the people or a negative one. Or if they disapprove of other issues in United States leadership.