KATHLEEN A. FRANKOVIC is one of the world’s leading experts in public opinion polling. She has been an election and polling consultant for CBS News and other research organizations.
She speaks and writes internationally about public opinion research, journalism and elections as an invited speaker in places as diverse as Italy, Jordan, Hong Kong, Manila, Mexico, Lisbon, Chile and India. In 2009 she retired after more than 30 years at CBS News.
She received an A.B. from Cornell University in 1968, and a Ph.D. in political science from Rutgers University in 1974. Before joining CBS News, she taught political science at the University of Vermont, and has also held visiting professorships at Cornell and at the Annenberg School at the University of Pennsylvania.
Democrats and Republicans are similarly likely to be paying "a lot" or "a little" attention to the debt ceiling debate, with 75% of Democrats who are paying attention saying that Congress should increase the federal borrowing limit. One in five Republicans (20%) who are following the topic agree.
Specifically, Republicans in the latest Economist/YouGov poll are particularly in favor of two proposals: increasing border security (90% strongly or somewhat support) and investigating Joe Biden's son Hunter Biden (85%).
This week, 34% of Americans describe Biden as honest and trustworthy — a new low for his presidency. That's an 8-point drop from when this question was last asked in December 2022, prior to the public revelation that classified documents had been found in Biden's possession.
More than one-third of Americans (36%) say that protests are necessary today in order to achieve racial equality, a sentiment that is stronger among Democrats (64%), Black Americans (58%), and 18- to 29-year-olds (48%).
There is bipartisan support for the testing mandate with majorities of Democrats (89%) and Republicans (79%) approving of the restriction.
In the latest Economist/YouGov Poll, nearly three times as many Republicans approve (59%) of Kevin McCarthy’s election as Speaker as disapprove.
While Americans' assessments of the past year are better now than they were of 2021 or 2020 on some fronts — education, job security, and health care — more see the country as worse off compared to the year prior in many economic domains.
A majority of Americans (55%) perceive cryptocurrency as a very or somewhat unsafe financial investment, with only 18% seeing it as a safe investment. Even people who own cryptocurrency are as likely to view it as an unsafe investment (47%) as a safe one (46%).
Americans are more likely to support than oppose the United States providing Ukraine with the Patriot missile defense system when asked about it generally, but a mention of Russia’s threat of “unpredictable consequences” for the support makes Americans less sure this is a good idea.
About half of Americans (52%) say they support the U.S. engaging in prisoner exchanges generally — but just 38% say they approve of Brittney Griner being released in exchange for Viktor Bout.