Men, a Great Deal

The New York Post ran a headline on September 30 that did more work than the question underneath it. Two-thirds of young Democratic women, it said, blame men for most of society’s problems.

Two-thirds of young Dem women say men are to blame for most of society's problems: poll https://t.co/cpxQu0uK5O pic.twitter.com/ZxC67JGDfA

— New York Post (@nypost) September 30, 2026

That is not what they were asked.

The Survey Center on American Life asked whether “the challenges that women face in American society” are “a great deal” due to the behavior or actions of men. Sixty-six percent of Democratic women ages 18 to 29 said yes. Eighteen percent of Republican women the same age said yes.

The interviews are from last summer. The center talked to 5,451 adults from July 25 to August 1, 2025, as part of its Civility and Morality Survey, and posted this cut on September 22. The Post ran it eight days later.

The gap does not close with age. Among women 30 to 49, 54 percent of Democrats and 23 percent of Republicans gave that answer. From 50 to 64, 47 and 25. At 65 and older, 48 and 16. The youngest Democratic women are the high mark. They are not the only ones.

Men were asked the mirror question: are the challenges men face a great deal due to women? Sixteen percent said yes. Among Republican men 18 to 29, 26 percent. Democratic young men are less likely to say it. The Post puts that gap at about twenty points.

So the headline did extra work. "Most of society's problems" is not what was asked. What was asked is still a fifty-point split, and it is largest where the women are youngest.

The article does not say why. It shows who is ready to say men are a great deal of the problem, and who is not. It does not say what they think those men did.

A poll cannot tell you whether the blame is earned. It can tell you who is ready to assign it, and who is not.

h/t Newsalert

Nate Silver: U.S. Patriotism Falls Behind

Nate Silver posted some eye-opening polling data right before the July 4th holiday. The takeaway? American patriotism has declined sharply and now sits below the global average. As the fireworks fade and we move into the week after Independence Day, the numbers deserve a closer look — especially with the country’s 250th anniversary on the horizon.

The Global Picture

The United States used to stand out for its strong national pride. In the 1980s, about 95% of Americans described themselves as “very” or “quite” proud of their nationality — significantly higher than most other regions.

By 2022, that figure had dropped to 78%. Many parts of the world maintained higher levels: Asia, Latin America, Africa, and the Middle East generally stayed in the 85–90% range. In a ranking of large and OECD countries, the U.S. now ranks around 34th out of 45.

The first chart shared by Silver shows the U.S. line trending steadily downward while other regions held steady or improved.

Obviously, some of this is partisan, with the Democratic numbers having fallen far more. Though independents are actually closer to Democrats on this issue than the GOP. pic.twitter.com/lV9bjtidDc

— Nate Silver (@NateSilver538) July 3, 2026

h/t Newsalert

Fading Faith in the American Dream? Gallup Poll via Washington Post

The Washington Post recently highlighted a Gallup poll indicating declining belief that “anyone can achieve the American Dream,” amid ongoing concerns over housing, groceries, and living costs. Here’s a summary of the findings, an analysis of the coverage, and a balanced perspective.

Source: Smithsonian Mag

CNN Poll: 47% of Americans Now Identify as Independents

A new CNN poll from May 2026 delivers a clear message about the state of American politics heading into the midterms: a growing number of people are rejecting both major parties.

According to the survey, 47% of Americans now consider themselves political independents. That's the highest level CNN polling has recorded in more than 10 years. Democrats sit at 27% and Republicans at 26%.

O'Reilly: "Social conservatism is at its highest level"

 

[VIDEO] Bill O'Reilly on No Spin News takes a look at polling data - the poll he cites looks at whether or not Americans want the US Military to fight the Mexican drug cartels and stop the flow of narcotics such as fentanyl into the nation. And then concludes how American's are trending more right or more to the social conservative side of things.

I wish this clip was more in depth with all the other trends such as the idea of medically transitioning minors to another gender and how LGBTQ+ pride is infecting major corporations - including FOX News if I believe Matt Walsh. And we look at how Americans are looking at the southern boarder.

And we get another piece of news to consider. If American's are going more socially conservative then is it being reported by people other than Bill O'Reilly. Will Joy Reid MSNBC report it? Would CNN? Well they trend to the left anyway this isn't exactly news they want to hear let alone report.

Let's Talk Elections: GOP now LEAD Democrats in party identification

 

[VIDEO] I would say listen to this if you want to talk about recent polls that suggest that Republicans have overtaken Democrats in party identification. Could it be the far left politics of one President Joe Biden and the Democrat Party? Well let's see what Ethan has to say about these polls.

Shapiro breaks down new awful poll numbers for Brand.....Biden

 

[VIDEO] Let's break this down a bit more than what we can get in that over 9 mins clip above from Ben Shapiro. From Gallup:

On average, Americans' political party preferences in 2021 looked similar to prior years, with slightly more U.S. adults identifying as Democrats or leaning Democratic (46%) than identified as Republicans or leaned Republican (43%).

However, the general stability for the full-year average obscures a dramatic shift over the course of 2021, from a nine-percentage-point Democratic advantage in the first quarter to a rare five-point Republican edge in the fourth quarter.

These results are based on aggregated data from all U.S. Gallup telephone surveys in 2021, which included interviews with more than 12,000 randomly sampled U.S. adults.

Gallup asks all Americans it interviews whether they identify politically as a Republican, a Democrat or an independent. Independents are then asked whether they lean more toward the Republican or Democratic Party. The combined percentage of party identifiers and leaners gives a measure of the relative strength of the two parties politically.

Both the nine-point Democratic advantage in the first quarter and the five-point Republican edge in the fourth quarter are among the largest Gallup has measured for each party in any quarter since it began regularly measuring party identification and leaning in 1991.

Well if you want the people to turn against do exactly what the President and quite a few Democrats are doing right now. And look at how the nation is being run. 

33%

[VIDEO] Red Eagle Politics discusses the 33% approval rating of one President Br.....Joe Biden. The man who was supposed to kill the coronavirus and unify a very fractured nation has had a very rough first year in office. The economy, inflation and rising gas prices and the Brandon administration's handling of those issues haven't been very popular.

Timcast IRL: Trump approval is even higher that Biden's even after insurrection narrative

 

[VIDEO] Talk about the "insurrection" of January 6, 2021 has been revived as a talking point. That whole unfortunate event was used to attempt to pre-empt former President Trump from running for office ever again. That meant even though he was leaving office on January 20, 2021 they wanted to go through impeachment which ultimately failed thankfully.

And amazing we've had just about a whole year of President Joe Bra.....Biden and we're looking much more favorably of Donald Trump than we are of our current President which is amazing. This is probably one of those issues that the public yawns at right now. 

Can Youngkin win in Virginia?

 

[VIDEO] As stated in a previous post about the 2021 Virginia Governor's race we're just about a month away from the election. Will former Gov. McAuliffe regain his former office for the next four years or will it be Republic Glenn Youngkin who reclaims the office for the Virginia Republican Party?

Red Eagle Politics takes a look at the early voting data. He claims that Youngkin is over performing. For the Republicans this race is winnable.

Biden's job approval in dangerous territory

 I wish I had the foresight to follow polls more closely. Via Real Clear Politics:

What we see from this is that the decline in President Bidens’ job approval from around 52% to 46% is consistent with a loss of an additional 5% of the Democrats’ caucus, or an additional 11 seats. If we put them altogether into a single regression analysis, we explain about two-thirds of the overall variation. This isn’t so bad, given the amount of randomness we have to explain here. The model suggests overall that the decline in Biden’s job approval will probably cost Democrats about eight seats.

Some of this is likely blowback to the botched withdrawal from Afghanistan, which may recede over the coming months. It may also be the case that there is some reluctance on the part of Democrats to respond to surveys right now, which artificially deflates his job approval.

Regardless, the decline in Biden’s job approval is consequential. Right now, he is probably sitting just below the “Mendoza line” that would represent a “normal” midterm, with perhaps no Senate losses and low double-digit House losses. If the president rebounds, Democrats will have a successful 2022, even if they narrowly lose the House. If he declines much further, however, it could turn into an ugly rout.

The article looks at the history of elections in America and ultimately lookings at polling in general and attempting to gauge where President Joe Biden will be during the midterms next year in 2022.

h/t Instapundit

Leftism unpopular with Americans

 

[VIDEO] Tim Pool spends over thirty minutes attacking this. Biden and his left wing handlers are polling very, very badly.

I recognize that the current Democrat Party has strayed so far away from liberalism that it's just unrecognizable now. It seems the emphasis is more authoritarian than reasonable.

I'm just severely dismayed that we're hearing tribalism between those who aren't vaccinated vs those who are. Those who aren't in some cases were advised by a doctor that taking this vaccine could cause some adverse reaction so we look down on their and restrict what they can do without being vaxxed?

We're also hearing that being vaxxed doesn't guarantee that some people who are won't carry the coronavirus. They can still carry it...

Anyway tangent, I'll bet the misreporting on this subject and the absolute ineptitude of the Biden administration is as much to blame for their bad polls right now. We're seeing the P.L.L. leadership isn't working out so well!

Is Illinois difficult to poll?

I try not to pay attention to polls at all, but as we head towards election day tomorrow they're hard to ignore. There are lots of predictions going around and we'll know for sure whether they'll hold true in Illinois or around the nation tomorrow.

One thing we can ask is how Illinois has been so difficult to poll. Now that we're in the 2nd decade of the 21st century things have changed. That means polling in general has to change with the times.

And that might explain why Illinois has been so difficult to poll this year.

BTW, early voting seems to be stressed more and more these days. I didn't early vote so I will be going to the polls tomorrow. If you haven't early voted already I also hope you cast a ballot tomorrow as well!

The Atlantic: What College Graduates Regret

This makes sense, I wish I had been more serious about finding work whether a part-time job or an internship before finally getting my sheepskin. Who knows I'd have been a lot more focused if it has worked out that way.

A recent Pew study complicates this picture a little bit. It found that, yes, a third of college graduates who majored in social science, liberal arts or education regretted their decision. (In comparison, 24 percent of people with science and engineering degrees wish they'd studied something else.) But overall, when asked what they wish they'd done differently in college, "choosing a different major" wasn't the top answer. The most popular answer, given by half of all respondents, was "gaining more work experience." Choosing a different major was the fourth most popular response, after "studying harder" and "looking for work sooner."

A possible lesson here: Picking a major with a real-world application might be overrated, at least as college graduates themselves see it. What students really need is experience putting their knowledge to practical use while they're still in school.

I majored in political science, there certainly was a way to use my degree in that particular field surely. Only really used it once having worked polls doing exit polling during a research project. I wrote about it here.

In any case, it's not enough to say if you major in art history who's fault is that? Yeah you might have a better shot if you majored in business, a science or engineering. At the same time work experience counts, find a job in your field while you're still in school or if nothing else just find a job period.

It won't matter in the long run if you got the right degree because just coming out of college it will be about your work experience. Why not come out of school armed with it!

Via Instapundit another sign of the "higher education bubble"!

Ward Room: Poll states Illinois is more anti-gun than rest of the nation

This is interesting:

Illinoisans are much more supportive of gun control than the rest of America, according to a poll out Tuesday from the Paul Simon Public Policy Institute at Southern Illinois University.

Here in the Land of Lincoln, 59 percent of respondents think controlling gun ownership is more important than the right to own guns -- 10 points higher than the nation as a whole, according a recent Pew Research survey.

And 72 percent of Illinoisans think gun laws should be more strict, compared to 58 percent nationwide. Fifty-eight percent favor banning high capacity ammunition clips, while 62 percent want to ban assault weapons, and 92 percent want background checks at gun shows -- three cornerstones of President Obama’s gun control plan. However, only 33 percent would like to see a ban on handguns.

Granted Illinois is a state where most of the population is located near a major city, Chicago. Of course it's stated that this state is mostly urban. That's besides the point it makes me wonder if this poll measured only a certain segment of the population in this state. Perhaps out of Chicago or those who may be more favorable to gun control.

Who knows, I wish I was more of a statistician than I am now. In order to conduct this poll what questions where asked. There's a way to manipulate the results to produce what's desired.

Anyway, another question to ask. If the results of this poll are correct, then what's different about Illinois than the rest of the country? If Illinois is more reasonable on gun control or gun rights surely there are other states that feel as strongly about gun control as this state does.

Capitol Fax: President winning by 16 points here

This poll and the data from which it derived should come as no surprise. Do I believe this will be a close election? Yes. Could Obama lose Illinois? Highly unlikely. In fact I could say the answer is undoubtedly no.

Illinois is without a doubt a solidly Democratic state and the President's home is here. And it's not often that a candidate for President will lose his homestate. Al Gore lost his back in 2000, but that's not saying anything about the incumbent President.

I understand that a lot of people are promoting early vote. I will vote on Election Day, we shall see how the votes will be distributed. How many early voters cast their votes for the President here in this state?

Vodkapundit: Wargaming the Electoral College

Stephen Green continues to theorize about potential results in this years Presidential race:

This should be easy to read. Dark blue is safe for President Obama, while light blue states are his leaners. Dark red is Mitt Romney country, with light red leaners. Uncolored states are the toss-ups.

Three surprises this time around, one of which you might already be pointing and laughing at: “He has Illinois is a leaner? What a maroon!” Very likely, yes. But the only poll I’ve seen out of Illinois showed Obama with only 49% — in Cook County, home of Chicago. Any Democrat running statewide in Illinois needs to run up the numbers in Cook, because they’re going to get slaughtered downstate. Now, I don’t really think Illinois is in play, but until I see some other indicator, I’m putting it in the leans column. It might even stay there long enough for me to finish writing this paragraph.

Missouri got downgraded to leans Romney, thanks to the heroic jerkiness of one Todd Akin. Women will turn out in droves to vote against this guy. Missouri, once safely red, is now a state to watch. You can’t hear me, but I’m saying very bad words right now.

And Colorado lost its blue tint for the first time ever on a battleground map. I thought my home state was going to be a tough nut for Romney to crack. He underperformed here during the primaries, I thought, and our state GOP has been in a circular firing squad for the better part of a decade now. You’d think they’d have run out of ammo, but no. Anyway, the last Rasmussen poll gave Romney a nice edge, with an R+5 sample. Colorado was R+1 in 2008 (when Obama was the Messiah) and R+9 in 2004 (when it went heavily for Bush). So R+5 sounds about right, as Colorado tilts back partway towards its historic norm.

And I stand by my year-old prognostication that Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin are in play. Some recent polls bear this out, too.

You may want to refer to the table for all those states that are either leaning/safe for Obama or leaning/safe for Romney over at Vodkapundit. And yeah Green is probably surprised because of the recent poll noted here!

BTW, he mentions an app that's worth playing with at least until the election in November!

Via Instapundit!

Shock poll: Obama could lose Illinois, Romney leads in Chicago suburbs

When I saw this I couldn't believe it! Of course I try not to pay too much attention to polls. My theory is still that this will be a close election this year and that Obama could still win Illinois but if this poll is any indication Obama can still win this state, just that it will be a close election here anyway.

A poll conducted by Illinois-based pollster and political strategist Michael McKeon found Obama leading Republican Mitt Romney by 49 percent to 37 percent in Cook County, the home of Chicago. That puts him ahead by a far thinner margin than expected in a county he should be winning handsomely.

Cook is the most Democratic leaning county in the state. It is also the most populous.

Those numbers do not bode well for the president.

“He has to come out of Cook County with a big lead or he’s gonna have problems downstate,” explained McKeon, who said that based on the numbers he had seen, Obama polled only in the forties in downstate Illinois.

“It’s not like his policies are very popular downstate,” McKeon said. “He’s viewed as more part of Chicago than he is part of Illinois.”

According to the poll, which surveyed 629 registered voters last week, Obama’s problems are not in Chicago proper, but in suburban Cook County.

Another point to note:

Illinois is not considered a swing state by any means; it is seen as solidly blue, and has been for the past two election cycles. But McKeon pointed to the 2010 gubernatorial race when Republican Bill Brady came within a single percentage point of now-Gov. Pat Quinn because Brady won most of the downstate counties. That is a feat Romney could repeat this year, leaving Obama vulnerable if he cannot expand his lead in Cook County.

Well Quinn is a different example from Obama. Quinn doesn't have the qualities Obama had in 2008 and still does now. Quinn one the race in 2010 barely, but Obama on the other hand time will only tell what the results will truly be.

Tribune: Paul Ryan's early numbers worst since Dan Quayle

You know if Ryan's numbers are the worst since the naming of Dan Quayle as George HW Bush's running mate in 1988, then this may bode well for Romney/Ryan. Time can only tell:

Mitt Romney picking Paul D. Ryan as his running mate may have sparked new interest in his campaign and invigorated the Republican base, but more Americans than not have a less-than-stellar opinion of the Wisconsin congressman.

A new USA Today/Gallup Poll found that 42% see Ryan as a “fair” or “poor” choice, compared with 39% who rate him as “pretty good” or “excellent.”

The only vice presidential nominee who has polled worse following an introduction to the public is Dan Quayle, who in 1988 was seen as “fair” or “poor” by 52% of Americans.

Seventeen percent of adults say that Ryan’s candidacy makes them more likely to vote for Romney, slightly less than 18% of Americans who said the same for John McCain following Sarah Palin’s vice presidential nomination in 2008. Thirty-six percent of Republicans polled are more likely to vote for Romney following the Ryan unveiling though, 6 points greater than the Palin boost for McCain in 2008.

I've wondered how Obama would do with the youth

This Daily Caller piece answers my question somewhat. It seems to be established that the youth made the difference for President Obama back in 2008.

Obama won 66 percent of the youth vote in 2008, while Republican Sen. John McCain got only 32 percent. Since then, youth enthusiasm for Obama has declined, partly because of high unemployment: More than 50 percent of recent college graduates are unemployed or underemployed.

Less than 35 percent of the 18- to 29-year-old cohort say they’re likely to vote in 2012, according to an April 26 report by Gallup, which also showed Obama leading Romney in that age group by a 64-29 margin.

Can the President regain the magic?

Hat-tip Newsalert!