While it’s a hot topic in Washington. D.C., only 33% of voters are Very Closely following recent news stories about the Census and congressional redistricting. That puts it way below the level of interest in the top stories of 2010.
In a year loaded with news, voters in 2010 paid most attention to stories about unemployment and job creation, the disastrous oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico, the health care debate and the extension of the Bush tax cuts.
One-in-five voters now regularly get news and political updates on their phones or other portable electronic devices.
American voters believe free market competition will protect Internet users more than government regulation and fear that regulation will be used to push a political agenda.
The government still doesn't have it right when it comes to the economy, as far as most voters are concerned.
The Tea Party movement was one of the biggest political stories during the 2010 election season. From an electoral standpoint, the grassroots movement had it first impact by forcing long-time Senator Arlen Specter out of the Republican Party (and eventually out of the U.S. Senate). By the end of the season, several Tea Party candidates such as Florida’s Marco Rubio and Kentucky’s Rand Paul were elected to the U.S. Senate.
Most voters think the most important role for government is to protect their individual rights.
Though a sizable number of voters view the religious faith of political candidates as important, they don’t want their local religious leaders telling them who to vote for.
Voters have mixed feelings about how much influence religious leaders have when it comes to U.S. government policy, but very few believe most politicians put their religious faith first.
The Tea Party was widely credited (or blamed) with playing a major role in Election 2010 and most voters expect that the grass roots movement will have as much, if not more, influence on the 2012 political campaigns.
Most Tea Party members view the candidates they elected in November as agents of change from government business as usual, but non-members are a lot more skeptical.
Voters are more concerned than ever that the ongoing Obama administration effort to close the Guantanamo prison camp in Cuba will allow dangerous terrorists to go free.
U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder is urging Congress not to pass pending legislation that would ban the transfer of terrorism suspects from the Guantanamo prison camp in Cuba to the United States for any reason. The Obama administration plans to try some of those suspects in U.S. courts.
Voters nationwide continue to show little optimism about America’s relationship with the Muslim world.
Most voters like the tax cut deal President Obama made with congressional Republicans.
As the White House and congressional Republicans haggle over extending the Bush tax cuts, voters express even less confidence than they did a month ago that President Obama can work with the new GOP majority in the House.
Despite the upcoming Republican takeover of the House, most voters are still not convinced Congress will actually cut government spending substantially over the next year. GOP voters are among the most doubtful.
Most voters believe public release of U.S. secret and confidential documents hurts national security, and they consider the leaking of such information to be an act of treason.
Voters are strongly concerned about the impact of the latest dump of sensitive and secret U.S. data on the Internet by the WikiLeaks organization and think the U.S. government needs to do a better job protecting that kind of information.
Forty-seven percent (47%) of voters believe the U.S. spends more on national defense than it does on Social Security.
