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In an age of increasing political polarization, the Affordable Care Act (ACA) stands out as one of the most politically divisive pieces of legislation in recent history. Unlike previous laws making changes to the US health care system, public views of the ACA did not improve measurably as people gained experience with the program, but remained deeply divided on a partisan basis in the more than eight years since its passage. In this article, we examine how the complexity of the law, lack of understanding by the public, and elite partisan messaging have contributed to this enduring partisan divide, and discuss what the future may hold for the measurement of public opinion on major health care legislation.

Over the past 50 years, the food industry has transformed. The first food-related crops containing gene modifications were commercialized in the late 1990s, and researchers began documenting trends toward consumption of larger portions of food, increased reliance on fast food, and the health impacts of living in \"food deserts.\" Polls examined here document a general, though not monotonie, decline in confidence that the federal government can ensure the safety of the food supply, a similar decline in confidence that food in restaurants or grocery stores is safe to eat, a decline in the belief that packaged-food companies are doing a good job, and an increased sensitivity to the negative aspects of GMO foods. At the same time, we find that fewer people are attending to biotechnology-related news or the information on food packaging, but increasingly attending to food warnings and nutritional recommendations.

Historically, the US Supreme Court has been the federal branch most highly regarded by the public on almost every measure. However, recent polling suggests that there may have been an unprecedented drop in support for the Court over the past decade. I examine this downturn in the context of historical trends in public opinion of the Court, finding that while there does appear to be an appreciable decline, there does not appear to be a single clear causal factor or series of events responsible, and that the decline has not persisted long enough to represent a real sea change to date. In contrast to formal and informal academic assessments, controversial appointments and ideologically charged decisions do not appear to influence substantially the public's evaluations of the Court. Prevailing trends in opinion on the other branches of government, however, do appear to have an influence. Additionally, strong, consistent support for a political confirmation process emerged, suggesting that the public sees the Court as a political body with the justices as self-interested actors, rather than a strictly impartial legal entity.

Since the 1930s, US politicians have argued about whether healthcare should be the responsibility of the federal government. Both major political parties have cited public opinion concerning Americans' support for or rejection of government provision of healthcare to support their position. With the passage of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act in 2010, however, the political debate has changed. Where it had been about the government provision of healthcare as an abstract principle, it became a debate imbued with evaluations of the implementation of the itself. This spawned a new line of research examining the consequences of the ACA's implementation on public attitudes toward government provision of healthcare. The change in support for government provision of healthcare and the new post-ACA research highlight a need for a long-term examination of trends in support over the past two decades that will provide context for the new studies. This study provides that examination.

The debate on mass polarization is itself polarized. Some argue that the United States is in the midst of a culture war; others argue that the claims are exaggerated. As polarization is a multifaceted concept, both sides can be correct. I review four distinct manifestations of polarization that have appeared in the public opinion literature—ideological consistency, ideological divergence, perceived polarization, and affective polarization—and discuss ways in which each has been measured. Then, using longitudinal data from the American National Election Studies (ANES), I update past analyses in order to more clearly show the ways in which Americans have or have not polarized: Americans at the mass level have not diverged, nor have they become more consistent ideologically, but partisans have; perceptions of polarization have increased, but this change is driven by partisans, who increasingly dislike one another.

Events such as the 2017 “March for Science” have brought greater attention to public attitudes toward science and scientists. Our analyses of recent poll data show that Americans’ confidence in scientists has been high for roughly 40 years (relative to other institutions), and that it is high even for controversial topics such as global warming and nuclear energy. International comparisons show broad similarities with individuals in Germany and the UK, including that trust in scientists can fluctuate depending on who employs them and what topic is under discussion. Finally, more granular analyses in the United States reveal large divides in trust based on geographic location and religious identification (i.e., rural residents exhibit comparatively low trust and the nonreligious comparatively high trust), while the gap between political partisans has been relatively small but has spiked in recent years.

In this Poll Trends study, 13 different sources are used to document public opinion toward homosexuality and gay rights in Great Britain in the postwar period. Three broad sets of indicators are examined: general attitudes toward homosexuality; acceptability of homosexuals in particular roles; and attitudes toward homosexual rights. Opinion was overwhelmingly negative in the 1940s and 1950s but started to liberalize following the decriminalization of homosexuality in 1967. Attitudes suffered a temporary setback with the advent of AIDS in the mid-1980s, but the thaw resumed from the early 1990s and accelerated following the millennium, especially during the second half of the first decade of the 2000s, culminating in the successful campaign for legalization of same-sex marriage in England and Wales. This trend toward liberalization has direct parallels in growing public support for several other facets of equality in Britain, notably gender, race, and religion. It also coincides with a significant reduction in religious allegiance.

Racial attitudes are multidimensional, and the corresponding picture we get from survey data on racial attitudes is complex. Tracing the results of major national surveys that provide trends over at least 10 years, and with at least three time points (primarily the General Social Survey and the National Election Studies), this article reveals that complexity. Some survey questions show dramatic changes in support of racial equality, while others reveal stagnation or even increasing negativity or disinterest. The article also describes the differences between whites and blacks in patterns and trends. Although compared to some issues, the survey record on racial attitudes is robust and lengthy, we draw attention to important ways in which it is uneven. We conclude by highlighting areas for future research that focus on improved survey measures that will capture more fully the complexity of contemporary public opinion on racial matters.

Given the scholarly and popular prominence of the concept of consumer confidence, it is striking that there are no examinations of the quality of the most commonly used measure of the concept—the University of Michigan's Index of Consumer Sentiment (ICS). In this study, we assess the usefulness of consumer sentiment as a construct and a measure (or measures). We also identify the best way to consider its role in consumer behavior. This brings us to a consideration of fundamental questions about the reliability and validity of consumer sentiment measures. Our purpose is to provide evidence on this score. Our analyses suggest that the ICS is a reliable indicator of consumer confidence. The measure exhibits substantial face validity, but the index itself (though not its components) falls short in terms of its predictive validity with regard to spending on durable goods.

Analyzing available polling questions administered between 2002 and 2010, we review trends in public opinion about stem cell research. We specifically assess questions measuring public attention, knowledge, trust, and policy preferences. Across years, despite their consistently low levels of scientific knowledge and understanding, an increasing proportion of Americans supported government funding for embryonic stem cell research and viewed such research as morally acceptable. Variations related to question-wording effects, however, indicate that Americans remain relatively ambivalent about the moral trade-offs involved in research, suggesting that public opinion could change in relation to focusing events and political conditions.