By Barbara Carvalho In matters both athletic and political, the best defense is always the best offense. With the rapidly escalating gas wars threatening to engulf campaign 2012, it seems the Obama team is trying to do just that. Faced with some serious incoming about soaring fuel costs from GOPers Romney, Santorum, and Gingrich, President […]
1/27: An Optimistic Picture of the NYS Economy
January 27, 2012
By Barbara Carvalho One of the most interesting numbers from Marist’s poll of New York State deals with those who now believe the worst of the state’s financial failings are behind us. As recently as this past November, only 42% thought that we had turned the economic corner. Now, 52% see things in a more rosy […]
10/11: The Financial Picture on the Home Front
October 11, 2011
By Barbara Carvalho News about the drop in median incomes is about as unwelcome as the final notice by a bill collector. But, how surprising is it? In the latest national Marist Poll, 64% of Americans tell us they have difficulty making ends meet. The figure rises to 76% for those with annual household incomes below […]
10/4: Key Regional Findings: Striking a Balance: New Yorkers Speak Out on Rightsizing Local Government
October 4, 2011
In an unprecedented survey of more than forty-five hundred New Yorkers, The Dyson Foundation/Marist Poll set out to uncover residents’ views toward the issue of local government consolidation. Striking a Balance: New Yorkers Speak Out on Rightsizing Local Government, originally released earlier this year in April, focuses on nine regions in the state — The […]
7/11: Budget Battles: In the Meantime for Americans
July 11, 2011
By Barbara Carvalho While Washington continues to do what Washington does badly… namely, negotiate budget deals… Americans are impatiently waiting for our national political leaders to provide some relief from this long-lasting economic slump. I suspect people aren’t finding much solace either in the economic jargon frequently bandied about in an effort to help Americans […]
4/28: Recovery … What Recovery?
April 28, 2011
By Barbara Carvalho You’d think with the “official” economic recession long over, according to the calculations of economists, and with President Obama and Wall Street imploring the Congress not to do anything to disrupt the supposed economic rebound, that maybe, just maybe, it would show up in the national poll numbers. Well, hold onto your […]
3/9: Is Good, Good Enough?
March 9, 2011
By Barbara Carvalho The release of the latest national job numbers has been met with cautious optimism from those waiting for momentum in the economic recovery. Boosted by a jump in private sector hiring, unemployment has fallen below 9% for the first time in memory. Is it possible these new numbers represent an end to […]
2/4: OK, Class, When’s an Approval Rating an Approval Rating?
February 4, 2011
By Barbara Carvalho The quick answer is: when you ask about the approval rating of an elected official. Unfortunately, that clarity was missing in a slew of recent polls on New York’s Governor Andrew Cuomo and the start of his term in office. First, Siena College released the findings of a statewide poll which measured […]
1/19: At Long Last? Well, Sort of …
January 19, 2011
By Barbara Carvalho While official calculations 18 months ago cited the definitional end to the recession, an economic gloom has hung over the nation … until now. According to the latest Marist Poll, a light has broken through the overcast economic forecast. Mind you, the numbers aren’t exactly rosy, but they do represent a departure […]
10/27: Cross-Cultural Research
October 27, 2010
There has been a growing interest among our U.S. clients to compare the opinions and perceptions of Americans to residents in other countries. This prompted me to recount some methodological issues discussed at a workshop I attended last spring in Switzerland. The Workshop on Comparative Survey Design and Implementation (CSDI) was a small, international conference […]