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Forbes
20 hours ago
- Politics
- Forbes
A Great Nation Or What? Poll Responses Over Time
In 1955, the Gallup Organization asked Americans to suppose they were talking in a general way about the United States and other countries. The organization then asked which of three statements came closer to the respondent's point of view. Two-thirds chose the response that the United States was the 'greatest country in the world, better than all other countries in every possible way.' Thirty-one percent believed the US was 'a great country but so are certain other countries.' And finally, 1% said that in many other respects, certain other countries were better than the US. A version of this question has been asked occasionally by pollsters ever since. A 1998 survey of parents done for Public Agenda found 84% believed the United States was 'a unique country that stands for something special in the world,' while 13% said the US is 'just another country whose system is no better or worse than other countries.' In 2011, the Pew Research Center began asking another version. That year, 38% responded that 'the U.S. stands above all other countries in the world,' while 53% said the U.S. was 'one of the greatest countries in the world, along with some others.' Eight percent said there were other countries that were better than the U.S. The 38% response has been trending downward unevenly, and in 2024, using a different methodology, 20% said the US stands above, while 55% said there were other countries that were also great. Twenty-four percent said there were other countries that were better, three times as many as had given that response in 2011. The Chicago Council for Global Affairs presents a binary choice: 'Some people say the United States has a unique character that makes it the greatest country in the world. Others say that every country is unique, and the United States is no greater than other nations.' In 2012, 70% chose greatest country response, while 29% opted for the 'no greater than other nations.' In 2023, the last time they asked the question, there was a big change in the no greater response: almost as many, 47%, chose it while 52% chose the greatest country. The Chicago Council looked at the responses by generations and found that majorities of the oldest generation, the Baby Boomers, and Gen X-ers all opted for the greatest response. Millennials, born in 1981 and beginning to come of age in the mid-1990s, were different. Just 40% of Millennials chose this response, and 59% opted for the no greater one. Other pollsters show the same generational differences with Millennials and younger generations more skeptical than their elders about the US's role. The Council noted that racial and ethnic differences to the question were small. In 2009 Barack Obama gave an interview in which he was asked whether he subscribed to the view of many of his predecessors that America was uniquely qualified to lead the world, that it was exceptional. He responded that he believed in American exceptionalism 'just as I suspect the Brits believe in British exceptionalism and the Greeks believe in Greek exceptionalism . . .' He went on to extol America's great accomplishments and strong ideals, concluding that because we have a lot to offer that we should still recognize the values and ideals of other countries. Obama's views are one of many factors that may have influenced members of younger generations. Their own coming of age experiences also have played a role. Exceptionalism did not mean America was better; it meant that we were different, with a different history, some facets of which are unique. One of those unique characteristics is optimism. Even in these deeply polarized times, most Americans still believe America's best days are ahead. Like the exceptionalism question, pollsters ask about optimism in different ways, and in most of them, including a new poll from Quinnipiac released last week, optimism beats pessimism. In the new poll, 53% said America's best days were ahead, and 40% behind. Differences about presidents, policies, and priorities are real, but most Americans still believe the US is a force for good, a great country with problems and potential.
Yahoo
15-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Muskogee Board of County Commissioners — Agenda
WHAT: Muskogee Board of County Commissioners regular meeting. WHEN: 8:30 a.m. Monday. WHERE: Muskogee County Services Building, 400 W. Broadway, Suite 010. AGENDA Consider: — Purchase orders, monthly reports, minutes of the June 9, 2025 regular meeting and minutes of the June 6, 2025 special meeting. — Lease and/or rental of equipment for a Ricoh IM C3010 copy fax machine with maintenance renewing annually for Muskogee County OSU Extension. — Cooperative Service Agreement between Muskogee County Board of Commissioners and United States Department of Agriculture Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service Wildlife Services — Update the committee for Keefeton Review Committee to the Muskogee County Volunteer Fire Department Review Committee. — Lease purchase renewal for 2024 John Deere GOP-Tier Compact Excavator Loan # 9684 700. — Half budget appropriations for the FY 25/26 completed by the Muskogee County Clerk's office. — Application for Temporary Appropriations for FY ending June 30, 2026. — Declaration of surplus for the Muskogee County Sheriff's office. — Lease with Purchase Option for Road Machinery or Equipment for District 2. — Board re-appointment of Tim Thompson to the Library System's Board of Trustees. — Contract between Eastern Oklahoma Youth Services & Muskogee County For Juvenile Detention Services at Pittsburg Regioal Juvenile Detention Center effective July 1, 2025. — Declaration of surplus for the Muskogee County Treasurer's office. — Bid process for roof replacement on the Muskogee County Courthouse. — Pursuant to 25 OS 307(8)(4), discussion and possible action to convene in executive session to receive confidential communication between the public body and its attorney concerning a pending investigation, claim or action if the public body, with the advice of its attorney, determines that public disclosure will seriously impair the ability of the public body to process the claim or conduct a pending investigation, litigation, or proceeding in the public interest. Keefeton Volunteer Fire Department v. Board of County Commissioners, case no CV-23-185 and case no 123106. — Vote to adjourn Executive Session and return to Regular Meeting and possible votes regarding the above-referenced case.
Yahoo
04-03-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Republicans Once Wanted Government out of Health Care. Trump Voters See It Differently.
Jason Rouse of Alpena, Michigan, Sarah Bognaski of Clayton, New York, and Charles Milliken of New Martinsville, West Virginia, all voted for President Donald Trump in November. They'd like to see the new administration put limits on what health care providers can charge patients. (Jason Rouse; Sarah Bognaski; Charles Milliken) Like many Americans who voted for Donald Trump, Jason Rouse hopes the president's return will mean lower prices for gas, groceries, and other essentials. But Rouse is looking to the federal government for relief from one particular pain point: high health care costs. 'The prices are just ridiculous,' said Rouse, 53, a retired Michigan firefighter and paramedic who has voted for Trump three times. 'I'd like to see a lower cap on what I have to pay out-of-pocket.' Government regulation of health care prices used to be heresy for most Republicans. GOP leaders fiercely opposed the 2010 Affordable Care Act, which included government limits on patients' costs. More recently, the party fought legislation signed by former President Joe Biden to cap prescription drug prices. But as Trump begins his second term, many of the voters who sent him back to the White House welcome more robust government action to rein in a health care system many Americans perceive as out of control, polls show. 'That idea that government should just keep its hands off, even when things are tough for people, has kind of lost its sheen,' said Andrew Seligsohn, president of Public Agenda, a nonprofit that has studied public attitudes about government and health care. 'We're wandering around the country with a set of old, outdated frameworks about what ordinary Democrats and ordinary Republicans like,' he said. Republican voters strongly back federal limits on the prices charged by drug companies and hospitals, caps on patients' medical bills, and restrictions on how health care providers can pursue people over medical debt. Even Medicaid, the state-federal insurance program that Republican congressional leaders are eyeing to dramatically cut, is viewed favorably by many GOP voters, like Ashley Williamson. Williamson, 37, a mother of five in eastern Tennessee who voted for Trump, said Medicaid provided critical assistance when her mother-in-law needed nursing home care. 'We could not take care of her,' Williamson said. 'It stepped in. It made sure she was taken care of.' Williamson, whose own family gets coverage through her husband's employer, said she would be very concerned by large cuts in Medicaid funding that could jeopardize coverage for needy Americans. For years, Republican ideas about health care reflected a broad skepticism about government and fears that government would threaten patients' access to physicians or lifesaving medicines. 'The discussions 10 to 15 years ago were all around choice,' said Christine Matthews, a Republican pollster who has worked for numerous GOP politicians, including former Maryland governor Larry Hogan. 'Free market, not having the government limit or take over your health care.' Matthews and fellow pollster Mike Perry recently convened and paid for several focus groups with Trump voters, including Rouse and Williamson, which KFF Health News observed. Skepticism about government lingers among rank-and-file Republicans. And ideas such as shifting all Americans into a single government health plan, akin to 'Medicare for All,' are still nonstarters for many GOP voters. But as tens of millions of Americans are driven into debt by medical bills they don't understand or can't afford, many are reassessing their inclination to look to free markets rather than the government, said Bob Ward, whose firm, Fabrizio Ward, polled for Trump's 2024 campaign. 'I think most people look at this and say the market is broken, and that's why they're willing for someone, anyone, to step in,' he said. 'The deck is stacked against folks.' In a recent national survey, Fabrizio Ward and Hart Research, which for decades has polled for Democratic candidates, found that Trump voters were more likely to blame health insurers, drug companies, and hospital systems than the government for high health care costs. Sarah Bognaski, 31, an administrative assistant in upstate New York, is among the many Trump voters who say they resent profiteering by the health care industry. 'I don't think there is any reason a lot of the costs should be as high as they are,' Bognaski said. 'I think it's just out of pure greed.' High health care costs have had a direct impact on Bognaski, who was diagnosed four years ago with Type 1 diabetes, a condition that makes her dependent on insulin. She said she's ready to have the government step in and cap what patients pay for pharmaceuticals. 'I'd like to see more regulation,' she said. Charles Milliken, a retired auto mechanic in West Virginia, who said he backed Trump because the country 'needs a businessman, not a politician,' expects the new president to go even further. 'I think he's going to put a cap on what insurance companies can charge, what doctors can charge, what hospitals can charge,' said Milliken, 51, who recently had a heart attack that left him with more than $6,000 in medical debt. Three-quarters of Trump voters back government limits on what hospitals can charge, Ward's polling found. And about half of Trump voters in a recent KFF poll said the new administration should prioritize expanding the number of drugs whose price is set through negotiation between the federal Medicare program and drug companies, a program started under the Biden administration. Perry, who's convened dozens of focus groups with voters about health care in recent years, said the support for government price caps is all the more remarkable since regulating medical prices isn't at the top of most politicians' agenda. 'It seems to be like a groundswell,' he said. 'They've come to this decision on their own, rather than any policymakers leading them there, that something needs to be done.' Other forms of government regulation, such as limits on medical debt collections, are even more popular. About 8 in 10 Republicans backed a $2,300 cap on how much patients could be required to pay annually for medical debt, according to a 2023 survey by Perry's polling firm, PerryUndem. And 9 in 10 favored a cap on interest rates charged on medical debt. 'These are what I would consider no-brainers, from a political perspective,' Ward said. But GOP political leaders in Washington have historically shown little interest in government limits on what patients pay for medical care. And as Trump and his allies in Congress begin shaping their health care agenda, many Republican leaders have expressed more interest in cutting government than in expanding its protections. 'There is oftentimes a massive disconnect,' Ward said, 'between what happens in the caucuses on Capitol Hill and what's happening at family tables across America.' We'd like to speak with current and former personnel from the Department of Health and Human Services or its component agencies who believe the public should understand the impact of what's happening within the federal health bureaucracy. Please message KFF Health News on Signal at (415) 519-8778 or . KFF Health News is a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues and is one of the core operating programs at KFF—an independent source of health policy research, polling, and journalism. Learn more about KFF. Subscribe to KFF Health News' free Morning Briefing. This article first appeared on KFF Health News and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.
