Economist/YouGov pollingThis week's Economist/YouGov poll
On drilling, the deficit, health care and golf
SOME highlights from this week's Economist/YouGov poll:
• Little has changed when it comes to the health-care reform bill. Public opinion about the overall reform remains just about evenly divided, as it has for months. More than twice as many Americans think that their care will worsen under the bill than say it will improve, and more than half still expect to pay more because of it.
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• Barack Obama's overall rating remains below 50%. In this week's poll, 46% approve of the way he is handling his job, while 47% disapprove.
• When asked which party would do a better job handling the budget deficit, Americans divide fairly evenly: 35% name the Democrats, 30% the Republicans, and 35% think they are about the same.
• When it comes to decreasing the deficit, cutting spending is a more popular approach than raising taxes, by a margin of 62% to 5%. And here's what the public is willing to cut:
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• Foreign aid makes up less than 1% of America's total spending.
• Just over a third of Americans (39%) agree with Mr Obama's decision to allow oil drilling to resume off the Atlantic Coast, the eastern Gulf Coast and north Alaska. Four in ten would like to see more drilling, and one in five want no off-shore drilling.
• In general, Americans come down on the side of drilling for oil off the US coastline: 63% favour increased drilling offshore, just 23% oppose it. Two in three believe increased offshore drilling would help the economy, while 39% think it would help national security. As for drilling's impact on the environment, 35% say it will make things worse. About as many (36%) say it will have no impact.
• The Masters golf tournament starts tomorrow and while 83% of golf fans (and 59% of all adults) are happy to see Tiger Woods back on the PGA tour this season, only 57% of fans (and less than a third of all adults) have a favourable view of the former champion. Back in 2005, a Gallup poll found that 85% of Americans had a favourable view of Mr Woods.
• It's interesting to note that while golf fans tend to be older and better off, golfing transcends party and ideology; about the same percentage of Democrats as Republicans and liberals as conservatives follow the PGA.
Data links: Our top-line numbers can be found here. Our tracking graphs can be found here. All of the data can be found here.