Opinion Today
February 10, 2026
American Optimism Slumps to Record Low Dan Witters, Gallup The percentage of U.S. adults who anticipate high-quality lives in five years declined to 59.2% in 2025, the lowest level since measurement began nearly two decades ago. Americans’ ratings of their current lives have also declined since rebounding in 2021 but not as steeply as their future life ratings.
White evangelicals remain among Trump’s strongest supporters, but they’re less supportive than a year ago Chip Rotolo and Gregory A. Smith, Pew Research Center One year into President Donald Trump’s second term, White evangelical Protestants remain among his strongest supporters. The latest Pew Research Center survey, conducted Jan. 20-26, 2026, finds that most White evangelicals (69%) approve of the way Trump is handling his job as president. And a majority (58%) say they support all or most of his plans and policies.
Trump's approval rating nears second-term low Eli Yokley, Morning Consult Voters are 9 points more likely to disapprove than approve of Trump's job performance, nearing a second-term record low. Nationally, his Republican base remains stable, but that's not enough to offset the erosion elsewhere as Democrats harden against him and independents continue drifting negative. Democrats lead Republicans on the generic ballot Eli Yokley, Morning Consult Democrats lead Republicans by 3 percentage points on the generic congressional ballot, 45% to 42%, in our latest weekly tracking survey. That’s essentially tied for their best standing of the cycle after upticks over the past month.
Earnings, Job Loss, and Job Finding Expectations Improve Modestly; Inflation Expectations Lower at Short-Term, Unchanged at Medium- and Longer-Term Horizons Federal Reserve Bank of New York Median inflation expectations in January declined by 0.3 percentage point (ppt) to 3.1 percent at the one-year-ahead horizon and remained steady at 3.0 percent at the three-year and five-year-ahead horizons. Median one-year-ahead earnings growth expectations increased in January by 0.2 ppt to 2.7 percent. Everyone Lies About Voting (Even the Religious) Ryan Burge, Graphs about Religion A deep dive into the massive gap between who says they voted and who actually showed up in 2024.
Voters Support Blocking ICE at Poll Sites to Prevent Election Interference Data for Progress New polling from Data for Progress finds that voters think it is likely Trump will attempt to use ICE to interfere in the 2026 midterms and support congressional action to block him from doing so.
Do’s and Don’ts about Discussing ICE and Immigration Navigator Research Recent polling from Navigator found Americans are overwhelmingly supportive of reforms to ICE. There’s also support for withholding funding from ICE if Democrats in Congress don’t get the reforms they’re looking for, even if it risks a government shutdown. Here are some tips to effectively communicate about immigration and ICE. Kamala Harris has Liz Cheney Syndrome Nate Silver, Silver Bulletin Centrists think Harris is a leftist, and leftists think she’s a centrist. But she’s not the only candidate with this sort of problem.
