Opinion Weekend
August 23-24, 2025
Majority of Americans Continue to Back Expanded Early Voting, Voting by Mail, Voter ID Steven Shepard, Joseph Copeland, Shanay Gracia and Jocelyn Kiley, Pew Research Center 58% favor allowing voters to cast their ballots by mail, but support remains much lower among Republicans than Democrats
America's AI Angst Clifford Young and Bernard Mendez, Ipsos There once was a time when AI was invisible. That time has long since passed. AI is now pervasive. However, the data shows that Americans aren’t particularly keen on AI.
Americans use digital assistants mainly for weather, music, and timers Kineree Shah, YouGov Digital assistants like Alexa, Siri, and Google Assistant are now part of millions of devices – from phones to speakers to cars. Yet for many people, the way they use these tools is closer to a pocket calculator than a personal secretary: simple, repetitive tasks rather than the full range of what’s possible.
Trump’s Epstein problem is real Tatishe Nteta, Adam Eichen, Alexander Theodoridis, Jesse Rhodes and Raymond La Raja (UMass Amherst), The Conversation Has President Donald Trump survived the latest and most serious firestorm of controversy over the Epstein scandal? Or has the Trump administration’s handling of the release of information concerning the prosecution of Jeffrey Epstein, a convicted child sex trafficker and Trump’s former friend, hurt the president? Our recent University of Massachusetts Amherst national poll includes particularly detailed questions about the Epstein controversy and attitudes toward Trump, and thus provides fresh insights on how the controversy has affected public support for Trump.
Switching health insurers? It’s more common than you think Kineree Shah, YouGov New research from YouGov CategoryView shows that one in five Americans with health insurance (18%) are thinking about switching providers in the next year.
Religion and spirituality among LGBT Americans Becka A. Alper and Asta Kallo, Pew Research Center Americans who are lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender (LGBT) tend to be less religious than those who are not LGBT. In addition, adults who are lesbian, gay or bisexual have more negative views than other U.S. adults do about religion, though many say religion plays some positive roles in society.
Californians initially back Governor Newsom’s proposed redistricting ballot measure 48% to 32% Mark DiCamillo, Berkeley IGS Poll The latest Berkeley IGS Poll included a short two question series about the possibility of California holding a special election in November to redraw its congressional districts to favor Democratic candidates to counter Texas’s plan to do the same in favor of GOP candidates. The poll also finds that the job marks that voters now give to Governor Gavin Newsom, the redistricting measure’s chief proponent, are on the rise.
California: Poll suggests Trump’s ICE raids are backfiring Tyler Katzenberger, Politico Most California voters say mass deportations would hurt the economy and favor keeping undocumented immigrants in the U.S.
