-Americans strongly support the premise that it would be a good thing for the country if everyone voted- 67% share that view, compared to 19% who think that it would be a bad thing. There is bipartisan agreement on that point with majorities of Democrats (86/6), independents (60/21), and Republicans (52/34) all saying they believe it would be good.
There’s more division on a specific proposal Hillary Clinton has made toward that end- automatic voter registration. 48% of voters support that to 38% who are opposed. Democrats (72/17) are strongly in favor of it while Republicans (28/59) are mostly opposed.
-As the Supreme Court decision looms the once unpopular Affordable Care Act now has Americans at least pretty evenly divided. 42% say they support it to 43% who opposed. When we last asked the question nationally last winter, there was only 39% support and 48% of voters who were opposed. Obamacare may still not exactly be popular, but it’s not the big albatross it might have been for Democrats in the past either.
-2 of the big recent policy debates in Washington have Americans largely saying ‘meh.’ 53% of voters have no opinion on the Trans Pacific Partnership. Among those who do have one 18% are supportive and 29% are opposed. The 18% support is the same we found a month ago, the 29% opposition has ticked up a little bit from 25% in May. Democrats (23/24) are pretty closely divided on it while both Republicans (15/35) and independents (15/29) are mostly opposed to the extent they even have a take. It’s a similar story when it comes to attitudes toward the USA Freedom Act. 61% have no opinion about that but it’s more popular with voters who do have one- 26% support it to 14% who are opposed. That one meets with support across party lines from Decembers (32/11), Republicans (23/14), and independents (21/17) alike.
-Last week’s gun news was the legality of bringing your gun into the airport- only 23% of voters nationally think you should be allowed to do that, compared to 64% who are opposed. Democrats (12/81), independents (25/57), and Republicans (34/50) are all firmly against guns in airports. This is one issue where the elected officials who decided to allow it are way out of line with how their constituents feel about the issue.
-Much is made of Barack Obama being unpopular- 45% of voters approve of the job he’s doing to 50% who disapprove. But his numbers are positively stratospheric compared to where the leaders of Congress and the body itself stand with the public. John Boehner has only a 22% approval rating with 62% of voters disapproving of him, and Mitch McConnell is even less popular with just a 16% approval rating and 61% of voters disapproving of him. It’s a given that Boehner and McConnell are disliked by Democrats but what’s really striking is the extent to which even voters in their party don’t like them. Boehner has a 31/50 approval rating with Republican voters, and McConnell’s is 24/50.
Congress itself has a 12/77 approval rating. That does at least make it more popular than some of the things we polled on though. Chris Brown has a 10/52 favorability rating and Justin Bieber is even more unpopular at 10/67. And Congress does outpoll ISIS, which comes in at a 5/81 favorability rating.
-We tested a bunch of prominent performing artists that we had also polled on in 2013 to see how their numbers had changed since then. The most popular folks we looked at were Taylor Swift and Justin Timberlake, each of whom came in at 54/15. In 2013 Swift was at 53/27 and Timberlake was at 52/24 so their negatives have dropped while their favorability numbers have basically stayed in place.
Only two of the people we polled have seen their numbers shift significantly in the last couple years. Lady Gaga has become a good deal more popular, going from a 29/50 favorability rating to 42/32. Justin Bieber, already unpopular, has headed even further in the wrong direction going from 20/54 to 10/67.
Full results here
