Cliff’s Take

Read this week’s analysis and observations on public opinion trends from pollster and social scientist President of Ipsos Public Affairs, US, Cliff Young. Each week Cliff will look underneath topline trends to lay out the forces that are really shaping our society and our future.

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Latest editions:

October 8: Checking in on our collective mental health

October 1: Trust in Biden on COVID erodes

September 24: Where America stands on climate change

September 17: COVID takes a bite out of Biden’s approval ratings

September 10: 9/11’s Long Reach

September 3: Vaccine Hesitancy May Be Weakening

August 27: Are the Kids Alright?

August 20: Biden's Bad Week

August 13: America's Relationship With Work Remains Complicated

August 6: Delta Uncertainty Rattles Confidence in the Economy

July 30: A Profile in Intractability

July 23: Regression?

July 16: Culture wars come out of hibernation

July 9: Law and Order, With Caveats

July 2: Celebrating America, Faultlines Notwithstanding

June 25: Is Biden losing steam?

June 11: Lurching Towards Normalization

June 4: Not So Hesitant Summer

May 28: Pausing To Reflect

May 21: American Alienation

May 14: The Great Unmasking

May 7: Can Reality Live Up To Expectations?

April 30: Big Government Forever?

April 23: What The Chauvin Trial Verdict Tells Us

April 16: Cautiously Impatient

April 9: Our National Dissonance

April 2: Advancing A Post-COVID Agenda

March 26: Guns, Immigration and Race—Have We Come Full Circle?

March 19: Cliff’s Take: Vaccine Skepticism Clouds New Optimism

March 12: Cliff’s Take: Americans Welcome Federal Support

March 5: Cliff’s Take: What We Are Hoping For Post-COVID

February 26: Cliff’s Take: Getting Our Bearings

February 19: Cliff’s Take: Some Americans Are Ready To Dive Back In

February 12: Cliff’s Take: Is Biden’s House Built on Solid Ground?

February 5: Cliff’s Take: Americans In Wait And See Mode

January 29: Cliff’s Take: Rage Against The Machine?

January 22: Cliff’s Take: Will Biden’s Call To Unity Resonate?

January 15: Cliff’s Take: Inauguration Turmoil Underlines Rifts In Our National Fabric

January 8: Cliff’s Take: The Wheels Fall Off The Trump Bandwagon

December 31: Cliff’s Take: Farewell to 2020

December 18: Cliff’s Take: American Disenchantment

December 11: Cliff’s Take: New Ambivalence About American Greatness

December 4: Cliff’s Take: Americans Adapt For Gloomy Winter Ahead

November 25: Our First – And Hopefully Last – COVID Thanksgiving

November 20: Cliff’s Take: Nation Still Divided On Who Won The Election

November 13: Cliff’s Take: Nation Begins To Move Forward

October 30: Cliff’s Take: Buckle Up

October 23: Cliff’s Take: Coronavirus Denial Still Isn't A Winning Strategy

October 16: Cliff’s Take: Down to the Wire

October 9: Cliff’s Take: Coronavirus as King Maker

October 2: Cliff’s Take: Could Trump’s Positive Coronavirus Test Influence The Race?

September 25: Cliff’s Take: Contradictory Signals

September 18: Cliff’s Take: Politicizing Science And Public Health A Dangerous Course

September 11: Cliff’s Take: Coronavirus A Dividing Line

September 4: Cliff’s Take: The Battle for the Soul of America

August 28: Cliff’s Take: Chasm Between Black and White America

August 21: Cliff’s Take: Will Americans Accept the Outcome in 2020?

August 14: Cliff’s Take: Beware of Horse Race Polls

August 7: Cliff’s Take: Willing Away The Virus

July 31: Cliff’s Take: Trump’s Desperation Takes Dark Turn

July 24: Cliff’s Take: Can Trump Bend Our Reality?

July 17: Cliff's Take: Americans See Risk in Schools Reopening

July 10: Cliff’s Take: The Great Unraveling

June 26: Cliff’s Take: It All Goes South for Trump

June 19: COVID-19 Takes Its Toll on Mental Health

June 12: Cliff’s Take: Mass Protest Against Inequality Changes Political Calculus

June 5: Cliff’s Take: Injustice Is Real, But Not All Americans Willing to See It

May 29: Cliff’s Take: Returning to Normal Won’t Be So Simple

May 22: Cliff’s Take: Social Distancing No Longer the Name of the Game

May 15: Cliff’s Take: Still Fearful, Americans Begin to Reemerge

May 8: Cliff’s Take: America’s Parallel Realities Become More Entrenched

May 1: Cliff’s Take: Jobs Supplant Health as Americans’ Top Concern

April 24: Cliff’s Take: To Ease Up or Not to Ease Up?

April 17: Cliff’s Take: America Settles in For the Long Haul

April 10: Cliff’s Take: Adjusted to Our New COVID-19 World

April 3: Cliff's Take: The Calm Before the Storm? America Pauses, While Social Distancing Continues 

March 27: Cliff's Take: Our Great American Adaptation

March 21: Cliff's Take: The Uncertainty of Our New Normal - A Data Dump

March 13: Cliff's Take: COVID-19 and the Cracks in Trump’s Armor

March 6: Cliff's Take: Will Americans See the Impact of the Coronavirus As a Random Act of God or Government Ineffectiveness?

February 28: Cliff's Take: Bernie Sanders and the Establishment’s Last Stand

February 21: Cliff's Take: How the Coronavirus Outbreak Could Change Our Future

February 14: Cliff's Take: Biden's Electability Lead Fizzles

January 28: Cliff's Take: Uncut Gems and Our Social Proximity to Addiction

January 17: Cliff's Take: Sanders and Biden Vie for the African American Vote

January 9: Cliff's Take: Electability and Swing State Fundamentals

December 20: Cliff's Take: Cognitive Surplus

December 12: Cliff's Take: The American Public Has Multiple Understandings of the Word "Impeachment"

November 26: Cliff's Take: Where the Rubber Meets the Road

November 14: Cliff's Take: Is Mayor Pete Trending?

November 6: Cliff's Take: Is Trump Distracted?

October 30: Cliff's Take: A Closer Look at Electability

October 22: Cliff's Take: Keep Your Eyes on Approval Numbers

October 15: A Crisis of Confidence in Our Electoral System

October 8: Country Music and Tribalism

October 1: Impeachment in the Global Context

September 24: The Forces that Produced Our Uncertain World Persist

September 16: Tattoos and Identity

September 9: No trees, just forest

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