Nieman Reports, a publication of the Neiman Foundation at Harvard University, has published an article by Gary Langer exploring the responsibilities of the news media in reporting public opinion surveys. The Foundation was founded in 1936 “to promote and elevate the standards of journalism.” See the piece here.

Colleagues have shared with us an independent poll in Russia finding 58% support for the military conflict in Ukraine. Not a good starting point for Vladimir Putin; this is considerably lower than support for his actions in Chechnya and Crimea, and, for comparison, lower than Americans’ initial support for various U.S. conflicts in years past.

Support is especially low among young adults (29% among those 18-24; 37% among those 25-30, vs. 75% among those 66+). It’s below half in cities and, notably, among those whose personal finances have worsened in the past year – a group sure to grow, given sanctions.

See our essay on the survey here and coverage by The Washington Post here, both with links to the source materials.

Our most recent ABC News/Washington Post poll finds President Joe Biden’s approval rating at a career low and covers attitudes towards Russia and the U.S. response to the crisis in Ukraine. In addition to coverage by ABC and the Post, these results were picked up by numerous outlets including NBC News, Fox News, Vox, The Atlantic, The Hill (here and here), Politico, The Financial Times, Bloomberg, The Guardian, CNBC, The Boston Globe, New York Magazine, centralmaine.com and Anchorage Daily News.

The national poll also covers views on the state of the coronavirus pandemic. These results were covered by The Hill, Newsweek and the University of Minnesota Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy, among others.

The American College Health Association has released our analysis of vaccine uptake and pandemic-related attitudes among college students, based on a data collected in the ongoing Axios-Ipsos COVID-19 tracking poll. Results include some concerning indications of pandemic fatigue among college students, including no reduction in disinclination to get vaccinated, no change in mitigation steps in the face of the Omicron surge and double-digit declines in trust and federal and state leadership.

Longer-term results indicate continued disparities among students by race and ethnicity in vaccine uptake. These gaps are not apparent when accounting for uptake intentions, suggesting that Black students, in particular, may face continued barriers to vaccination or a preference to wait and see.

See our report here.

The Charles Butt Foundation today released an extensive statewide survey of public attitudes toward public education in Texas, covering views among public school parents and Texans overall toward a broad range of public school policies and programs.

The survey finds a two-year surge in parents’ ratings of their community’s public schools, with 68 percent giving their schools an A or B grade, up 12 percentage points from its pre-pandemic level. Seventy-six percent, moreover, give an A or B grade to the public school teachers in their community.

More Texans trust teachers rather than others to make decisions in the best interest of public school students, followed by trust in principals, local school boards and district administrators, with state elected officials last on the list.

About three-quarters of public school parents report that their child has a very or somewhat strong sense of belonging at school, a strong factor in other attitudes. And if other options were available, eight in 10 would choose to keep their child in their current school rather than send them to a different one.

The survey also covers topics including the role of public schools in their communities, levels of support for various school services, school quality, inclusion, equity barriers, challenges facing teachers, perceptions of standardized testing and school funding.

We’re proud again to have worked with this foundation in producing its third annual survey on public education in Texas. See the report here.

Our latest ABC News/Washington Post poll finds that Republican candidates hold their largest early advantage in midterm election vote preferences in polls dating back to 1981, with pickup from CNN, NBC News, Fox News (here and here), MSNBC, Bloomberg, The Hill, Financial Advisor Magazine, and local outlets such as Florida Politics, Spectrum News NY1 and the Hindustan Times.

The national poll also covers views on abortion, climate change and parents’ perceptions of coronavirus vaccine safety and efficacy in children. In addition to coverage by ABC and the Post, these results have been covered by CNN, Forbes, USA Today, The Hill (here and here), Arkansas Times and Anchorage Daily News, among others.

The 53rd Annual PDK Poll of public attitudes toward public education finds that majorities of Americans give high marks to their community’s public schools – and particularly to public school teachers – for their response to the coronavirus pandemic in the last school year. And most express confidence in the schools’ preparedness for the year ahead. See the full report of the poll, produced for PDK by Langer Research Associates, here and commentary from the public education advocate Jan Resseger here.

Our most recent ABC News/Washington Post poll covered a variety of topics, including the deteriorating situation in Afghanistan; public responses to an evolving coronavirus threat, including vaccination and mask mandates; and Americans’ assessments of the post-9/11 world. The poll was picked up by many outlets, including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Politico, The Hill, FiveThirtyEight, the Chicago Sun-Times, The Philadelphia Inquirer, the Brookings Institution, The BMJ, Vanity Fair, Newsweek, MarketWatch, and The Phoenix.

Our latest ABC News/Washington Post poll covered a host of topics, ranging from perceptions of crime, to voting rights, to ongoing COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy. It was picked up by CNN, NBC News, The Guardian, The Hill, National Review, Slate, Forbes, Newsweek, the New York Post, the Seattle Times, the Vancouver Sun, VOA News, The Week, the International Business Times, and Common Dreams, among other outlets.

Surveys on education and economic mobility in the past month find reasons both for hope and concern as the nation emerges from the coronavirus pandemic.

On the education front, some parents express reluctance to return their child to school and many are hesitant to have their child vaccinated, factors complicating school policy in the fall. A third of principals, meanwhile, plan to accommodate requests for remote learning, even amid questions about its comparative effectiveness. Attitudes nationally are divided on another topic, the teaching of critical race theory.

Economic measures, for their part, show gains in consumer sentiment, including among less well-off Americans, and employment opportunities advancing among teenagers. Two new studies examine the role of education in economic well-being; another finds broad support for federal action on healthcare affordability.

These and other topics are covered in our latest monthly summary of newly released probability-based surveys on education and economic opportunity; see our report here. Sponsors and producers of such surveys are welcome to contact us to have their work included in future summaries.

This project is supported by a grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.