Opinion Today
June 10, 2026
A record 63% of Americans disapprove of how Donald Trump is handling the economy David Montgomery, YouGov A majority of Americans see the U.S. economy headed in the wrong direction and most disapprove of how Donald Trump is handling the economy, according to the latest Economist / YouGov Poll.
Two-thirds of Americans think Donald Trump has been ineffective in negotiations with Iran Alexander Rossell Hayes, YouGov Most Americans think the war in Iran is not close to an end, according to the latest Economist / YouGov Poll. Almost all Americans (92%) think the war will last for more than a month longer than it has already lasted. Nearly half of that group (42% of all Americans) think it will last for a year or more.... A majority (62%) of Americans somewhat or strongly disapprove of Trump's handling of the situation in Iran, while about half as many (29%) approve.
Israelis, Palestinians, Americans See War in Iran Differently Laura Silver, Maria Smerkovich and Julia Armeli, Pew Research Center Israelis say the war will make Israel and the world safer, Palestinians expect more danger, and Americans are divided
Party over purity: US voters unlikely to turn backs on troubled candidates, Reuters/Ipsos poll finds Jason Lange and Nolan D. McCaskill, Reuters Few Americans would abandon their party's candidate over controversies such as Democrat Graham Platner's Nazi-linked tattoo in Maine or Republican Ken Paxton's fraud indictment in Texas, according to a new Reuters/Ipsos poll, highlighting deep partisan divides that make winning paramount. Two-thirds of party-aligned respondents said they sometimes have to vote for a candidate they don't like just to stop the other party from winning power, according to the six-day poll completed on Monday.
If you know someone who might be interested, please share this free issue of Opinion Today:
Climate Change in the American Mind: Politics & Policy, Spring 2026 The Yale Program on Climate Change Communication and the George Mason University Center for Climate Change Communication • 58% of registered voters would prefer to vote for a candidate for public office who supports action on global warming, while 14% would prefer to vote for a candidate who opposes action. • 58% of registered voters think developing sources of clean energy should be a high or very high priority for the president and Congress. • 53% support expanding offshore drilling for oil and natural gas off the U.S. coast. • 67% of registered voters think global warming is affecting the cost of living in the United States. • 58% of registered voters oppose building data centers in their local area.
Trust in CDC has fallen dramatically in the last year Maya Brownstein, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health A year after changes to federal leadership in the U.S. public health system, a new poll finds that trust in public health agencies has dropped dramatically. Only 50% of U.S. adults say they trust health recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), compared to 77% in spring 2025.
Calm in Crisis, Clear in Purpose: Americans Want a New Foreign Policy Direction Mary Sagatelova & Sumona Guha, Third Way To understand what voters are signaling about leadership, strength, and America’s role in the world, Third Way partnered with Impact Research to conduct a nationwide survey of 1,000 registered voters from May 1-7, 2026.
Many soccer fans excited about U.S. hosting World Cup, CBS News poll finds Jennifer De Pinto and Fred Backus, CBS News Three in four U.S. soccer fans feel positive about the U.S. hosting the World Cup, including more than half who are excited about it.
Texas Pulse Poll of Likely Voters Show the Statewide Races Are Too Close to Call ReconMR, Siena Research Institute and the Texas A&M University Bush School of Government & Public Service • Early Look at Statewide Races Show They Are All Too Close to Call; Senate Tied • Voters Say Last Year’s Redistricting Was Bad for Democracy 51-38%; Voters Favor Republicans on the Generic Congressional Ballot 49-43% • Cost of Living Top Issue Followed by Water Supply, Border Security • Trump – Who Carried Texas by 13 Points in ’24 – Has Negative Favorability (45-51%) and Job Approval (48-52%) Ratings; Voters Approve of Trump’s Job Securing the Border, 57-40%; Disapprove President’s Work on Affordability 57-41% Taking Stock of the 2026 House Map: An Update Kyle Kondik, Sabato’s Crystal Ball • As redistricting for 2026 is likely coming to a close, 10 states drew new maps for 2026. Those states hold about 40% of all the nation’s House seats. • Redistricting did make the overall House map more favorable to Republicans. The median district by presidential performance is now VA-1, held by Rep. Rob Wittman (R). It is about 2 points to the right of the old median district, and it voted about 3.5 points to the right of the nation in the 2024 presidential election. • The number of the most competitive districts on paper declined from 85 to 70, although in 2026, Democrats may be able to win some districts that voted for Donald Trump by double digits in 2024—districts that in other years might not be winnable for them. Platner Won. Democrats Are Scared. Igor Bobic, Christa Dutton and Alex Roarty, NOTUS Democrats are projecting public confidence about the Maine Senate race in the wake of Graham Platner’s primary victory on Tuesday, insisting they can defeat incumbent Sen. Susan Collins in November. Privately, however, many in the party are despondent about his chances, believing that his personal baggage has put a winnable race at risk and upended their path to securing a Senate majority next year. Netanyahu Has Lost Middle America William A. Galston, The Wall Street Journal [unlocked] Whatever the long-term military consequences of the war in Gaza, its effect on the American public’s support for Israel has been catastrophic and won’t be reversed quickly. Just as Israel’s surprise 1967 victory in the Six-Day War strengthened pro-Israel sentiments in the U.S. for decades, the images of Gaza’s destruction may prove indelible. ‘All Sorts of Excesses, Like the Worst, Most Brazen Lying’ Thomas B. Edsall, The New York Times [unlocked] The “fake news” revolution is in full swing. Why Everyone Wants Jon Ossoff to Run for President Michelle Goldberg, The New York Times [unlocked] The Georgia senator is excoriating Trump and his systemic corruption in a way that transcends the Democratic Party’s progressive-moderate divide. A Disorienting Weekend With the Women of Turning Point Elaine Godfrey, The Atlantic [unlocked] Some sounded vaguely feminist; another doesn’t want women to vote. Talk of Canceling Elections Shows Trump Is Unfit for Office Robert Dallek, The Bulwark No president has ever canceled a federal election, even in our deepest crises. Trump’s Assaults on Scientific Research Just Got Worse Melissa L. Finucane (Stony Brook University), The New York Times [unlocked] Proposed rules would ravage the world’s most productive scientific enterprise. Social Security shortfall expected to accelerate, with funds at critical low in 2032 Meryl Kornfield and Julie Z. Weil, The Washington Post [unlocked] The shortfall will be driven in part by a drop in immigration and Trump’s tax cuts, trustees say, resulting in trimmed benefits. Emerging State Data Paint a Bleak Picture of 2026 Marketplace Enrollment Stacey Pogue and Sabrina Corlette, The Commonwealth Fund In 2025, enrollment in the Affordable Care Act marketplaces rose to an all-time high of 24 million.... Several state-based marketplaces have released early data indicating that plan cancellations rose sharply between January and March this year — up 24 percent over last year. Economists Weigh In on the Future of Work and AI Te-Ping Chen and Justin Lahart, The Wall Street Journal [unlocked] How 16 top economists think AI will change the job market, and how to prepare
If you haven’t already done so, become a paid subscriber and receive the FULL Opinion Today briefing first thing each morning, Monday-Friday, plus an expanded edition on weekends.
PLAYLIST
Reuters poll finds US voters unlikely to dump troubled candidates Reuters Few Americans would abandon their party's candidate over controversies such as Democrat Graham Platner's Nazi-linked tattoo in Maine or Republican Ken Paxton's fraud indictment in Texas, according to a new Reuters/Ipsos poll.
'Political nightmare': Trump's Epstein approval & more CNN CNN chief data analyst Harry Enten tackles a range of topics from President Trump's approval numbers on the Epstein files, to Democrats' big problem on immigration.