The investigation says is a weekly series bringing together the most important survey trends or data points you need to know, as well as an atmosphere verification on a trend that stimulates policy.
Have we entered a new era of American discomfort?
New Gallup data finds that Just over 18% of American adults Have or treated for depression, which means that around 48 million adults are depressed. Not only does this mark the third consecutive year with a share of around 18%, but also the three of these years are significantly higher than the average of 12.8% which said they were depressed between 2015 and 2020.
Although these dates ranges are largely shattered within the pre- and post-payable deadlines, the potential causes are much more unpleasant, the more you dig in the data.
The largest increases in depression rates were in adults aged 18 to 29 and adults whose household income was less than $ 24,000 per year. Everyone has seen an increase of 13 percentage points in depression since 2017. As the Gallup notes, the financial difficulties of younger and low -income Americans undoubtedly contribute to their higher depression rates after all, the pandemic rocked the job And housing marketswhich has not stabilized since then.
The problem is that the Trump administration strives to worsen these problems.
In July, President Donald Trump signed his tax legislation, which transfers the wealth of the poorest Americans to the richest. He does so by eliminating Medicaid and federal food assistance, costing the poorest Americans about $ 1,200 each year, according to The Budget Office of the non -partisan congress. Meanwhile, the richest Americans will see their income increases by almost $ 14,000 per year.
Although the Trump administration can soon declare a national housing emergency – and it East An emergency – it will surely not use this proclamation to build more affordable housing or increase the density of the population. After all, it is difficult to think of things that good hates more than cities and social housing.
“In fact, Trump’s non-housing policies will discourage the construction of houses,” said the economist winner of the Nobel Prize winner Paul Krugman wrote on its substitution in early September. “Nothing says” to make housing cheaper “as imposing a 35% rate on imports of Canadian wood and expelling numerous immigrant workers for the American construction industry.”
But it is not only the housing and employment sectors that feel desperate. The last time a majority of registered voters thought that the economy improved was in February 2018. Sixty-four percent of Americans see racism against blacks as widespread in the countryAnd this number has increased since at least 2009. In the past four years, around 40% of American parents Fear for the safety of their children at school—The highest rates since the years that followed the massacre of Columbine High School in 1999. Acts of high -level political violence seem to be increasinglike the assassination of Wednesday of Sectal right activist Charlie Kirk. Things are not superb.
In fact, earlier this year, Gallup found that Americans are less satisfied With 26 of the 28 national numbers in 2017, at the start of Trump’s first term. Their drop in satisfaction covers the problems of the size and influence of large companies (down 14 points in 2017) to the national quality of public education (down 13 points). But the problem with the highest drop in satisfaction since 2017? “The quality of global life”, which dropped 18 points.
In its writing of the depression survey, Gallup notes that the part of the Americans who declare that they are alone (21%) is the highest that it has been since March 2021, while the Pandemic Covid-19 Rage. And the objectives of conservatism have long been that people have not seen themselves as part of a large collective.
“There is no society”, ” said The conservative icon Margaret Thatcher, who was then the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom in 1987. “There are individual men and women and there are families. And no government can do anything except by people, and people must first take care of themselves. It is our duty to take care of us and also take care of our neighbors. ”
But Trump and the modern right seek even more to stratify society, to put the neighbor against the neighbor, to eliminate the collective. Look at the response to COVID-19 alone: the conservatives have become sparkling at the idea of being vaccinated to help, if not themselves, then their immunocompromised neighbors. Or look at climate change, and how the conservative movement is rejected by the perspective that people come together to fight against an existential threat. After all, it is the crowd that welcomes anyone even slightly to their left with “Fuck Your feelings”.
Since the cocovid-19 pandemic, the most important question may be the most important in America: how do you have a functional society where so many neighbors hate each other, when so few are satisfied with the quality of life, and the government seems incapable or does not want to repair things?
Yeah, that East Quite depressing.
Updates?
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Trump wants more war, or at least things to name “war”, Because the word “war” is cool and virile, or something like that. But his decision to rename the Ministry of Defense as “Ministry of War” faces a cold public reception, to say the least. Only 21% of Americans support brand change, while 59% oppose it, according to A new investigation by Yougov.
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At the end of last month, Trump tried to dismiss the governor of the Federal Reserve Lisa Cook, a decision She disputes and continuesWhile trying to put the national banking system under its control and hindering the American economy. Unsurprisingly, the Americans largely oppose Trump’s actions, 70% saying that he should not be able to be able to members of the Federal Reserve Board if they do not share his opinions, by A new Yougov survey For CBS News. In addition, 68% of Americans want the federal reserve to act independently of Trump, thus revealing that his authoritarian project has no public mandate.
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In the midst of Trump and the assault on the right against schools in the country, Especially its universitiesThe perception of Americans of the importance of higher education is a new hollow. Gallup finds that Only 35% of Americans Think that going to college is “very important”. Forty percent say that the college is “quite important”, while 24% say that the college is “not too important”.
Ambient check
Wednesday, shortly after Kirk’s murderYougov asked Americans if violence could be justified to achieve political objectives. Eleven percent of Americans say it can be, and this includes 14% of Democrats, 13% of the self -employed and 6% of the Republicans. But these responses are undoubtedly tempered by the assassination of a right figure, modifying how acceptable supporters say that violence is or not.
After all, survey not Directed immediately following an assassination found the Republicans more favorable than the Democrats of political violence. For example, a survey Operated last June by the Research Institute on Public Religion revealed that 27% of Republicans agreed that “real American patriots may have to resort to violence to save our country” – while only 8% of Democrats have done so.
However, it is very likely that these surveys will highlight the appetite of the Americans for violence.
A 2022 study Published in the Estimated PNAS scientific journal notes that previous research has tended to largely overreland the public support for political violence. This was mainly due to a “random response by the respondents disengaged” and “dependence on hypothetical questions about violence in general instead of questions about specific acts of political violence”, according to the study authors.
The study controlled respondents’ commitment and asked them more specific questions – and support for political violence was far, much smaller. When asked if political motivation shooter should be accused of a crime—Otice of specificity there – 96% or more of the respondents committed said “yes”, regardless of the affiliations of the party of the shooter and the victim.
“A small part of the Americans supports political violence, but most of this support comes from a disturbing segment of the public which supports violence in general. Even among this group, support is also subject to the gravity of the violent act and is generally limited to relatively minor crimes,” wrote the authors of the study. “Traditional Americans of both parties have little appetite for violence – political or not.”
