CEO Chris Wilson speaks to the National Religious Broadcasters Research Symposium today about the public opinion of Christians on several key issues, and the demographic challenges facing radio ministries.

Exploring Public Opinion of Three Key Issues for Radio Ministries: Fairness Doctrine, Hate Crimes Legislation, and the Employment Non-Discrimination Act
While there are a number of issues critical to the survival and functioning of radio ministries, and in many cases Christian ministries overall, Christians are not necessarily aware of or engaged on these issues. We examined public opinion polling data on three issues particularly important to radio ministries: employment non-discrimination in hiring by religious organizations, hate crimes, and the so-called “fairness doctrine.�

The fundamental finding of this analysis is that Christians’ opinions on these issues are not what we would expect them to be if they understood the threat that federal action on each of the issues might pose to a variety of Christian organizations including radio ministries. As we will discuss in more detail later in this analysis, radio ministries and others who help shape the opinion of Christians on these issues may need to do more to educate them about the importance of these issues and the implications of them for ministry organization….

Access Full Paper Here
Access Full Powerpoint Presentation Here

Demographic Challenges Facing Radio Ministries
Our data suggests that radio ministries (and all ministries) are facing a dual challenge posed by a short-term drop in support due to the economic recession and a longer-term danger due to donor demographics. Of the two, we consider the longer-term threat to be the more critical. This threat is compounded because the same lack of success in acquiring new, younger donors that is driving the demographic trend is also forcing ministries to place additional stress on existing donors….

Access Full Paper Here
Access Full Powerpoint Presentation Here

A new survey indicates that laid off workers are spending more time engaging in their communities by volunteering (8%) and becoming more involved in their local church (6%).  This newly minted free time could significantly change political environments now that 9% of the US is unemployed.

As the unemployed search for jobs, they are also afforded an opportunity to become more informed on the issues as down time is likely spent in-front of a television or computer.  This could spark higher political engagement, as fatigued and angry people are the forefront of any revolution.

As you could imagine, the growing legion of unemployed are most concerned with providing for themselves (see below); however, attention could soon be turned to the failure of Obama’s “stimulus” to save their jobs.  This could spell trouble for Democrats in 2010.

 

 

By: Emily Cadei (link to article)

Investor and financial commentator Peter Schiff is doing polling in Connecticut to gauge support for a potential Republican Senate run. Schiff has signed on prominent Republican polling firm Wilson Research Strategies to survey the state, his brother and spokesman Andrew Schiff told CQ Politics.

“Peter is a non-traditional candidate,” said Andrew Schiff of his brother, an outspoken libertarian who has gained attention for correctly predicting the collapse of the mortgage industry despite mockery from other industry analysis. “We’re attracting a lot of very fervent believers.The question is whether or not this will all resonate with the voters of Connecticut.”

Indeed, Schiff was not considering a Senate run against five-term Sen. Christopher J. Dodd until he became the subject of an aggressive drafting campaign this past winter. Schiff’s first brush with politics was as an economic adviser to Republican Ron Paul’s presidential campaign. That role linked him into a network of Paul supporters who have urged Schiff to run for office — Andrew Schiff said his brother has been “bombarded with emails and phone calls” over the last several months.

What remains unclear is whether Schiff has a legitimate shot of taking on more traditional politicians like former Rep. Rob Simmons and state Sen. Sam Caligiuri in the Republican primary and Dodd in a general election.

“We do think there’s certainly room for the fiscally conservative, libertarian wing of the party to attract a lot of attention in the Northeast,” Andrew said, adding that Peter is prepared to develop a policy portfolio not just on finance and monetary policy, his speciality, but also on hot-button issue like health care and energy. But economics will remain is major focus.

“We’re leaning towards a run,” he said, however, “Peter doesn’t want to spend a lot of time and money if there’s really no chance.”

A new survey out demonstrates how different voters from both parties view our current economic crisis.  Republicans are returning to their roots, as they worry about the growing deficit, income taxes and budget problems.  Democrats are more concerned with rising unemployment, and healthcare.

Campaigns are stuggling to find the middle-ground economic issues that are important to the base and soft-partisans that are necessary to win.  According to this survey, the cost of health care (not to be confused with access to healthcare), decreasing pay and increasing personal debt may be those issues.

Check out Tyler Harber’s latest blog post on Politics Magazine’s Campaign Insider Blog about Robo versus Live-interview polling, and the kind of data each produces.

Other recent posts by Harber:

The Strategic Values of Financial Filings

The First-Time Blind

The Rise of the Free-Market Candidate

David A. Ridenour (National Center for Public Policy Research)
Townhall.com
Friday, June 26, 2009

Overly influenced by certain big-name green groups, misled by their own ideology and perhaps also a bit dazzled by the unlikely stardom of failed-politician-turned-climate-hero Al Gore, Democrats on Capitol Hill seem bent on self-destruction when it comes to climate change.

At issue is palatable opposition to continuing plans for expensive and job-killing cap-and-trade legislation among members of the Democratic Party’s most loyal core constituency: African-Americans.

A nationwide poll exclusively of African-Americans nationwide just released by the National Center for Public Policy Research found that 76 percent of African-Americans want action on climate change delayed until after the economy recovers.

The 800 African-Americans surveyed were overwhelmingly Democrat: 80 percent self-identified as Democrats, 67 percent self-reported being “strong” Democrats. Only 4 percent self-identified as Republican.

Yet despite the association of the climate change issue with the Democratic Party and President Barack Obama — who, according to a CNN/Essence Magazine/Opinion Research Corp. poll released June 25, still receives the support of 96 percent of the African-American community — black Americans leave the fold in droves when it comes to climate change.

Among the poll’s findings:

- 76% of African-Americans want Congress to make economic recovery its top priority, even if it delays action on climate change;

- 38% believe job losses resulting from climate change legislation would fall heaviest on the African-American community. Only 7% believe job losses would fall heaviest on Hispanics and only 2% believe they would fall heaviest on whites;

- 56% believe Washington policymakers have failed to adequately take into account the economic and quality of life concerns of the African-American community when formulating climate change policy;

- 52% of respondents aren’t willing to pay anything more for either gasoline or electricity to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. 73% are unwilling to pay more than 50 cents more for a gallon of gas and 76% are unwilling to pay more than $50 more per year for electricity to reduce U.S. greenhouse gas emissions;

- African-Americans are virtually deadlocked on whether to proceed with plans to reduce greenhouse gas emissions if doing so increases consumer prices and unemployment. 44% of those surveyed said emissions reductions should not proceed under these circumstances, while 45% said they should continue. Significantly, a strong majority (59% to 33%) of those surveyed in the West North Central Region (Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri, and Nebraska) and a plurality (43% to 42%) of those in the East Central Region (Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, Wisconsin) opposed emissions reductions if they increase costs or unemployment.

With concern about a Waxman-Markey-style climate change bill running this high among a group of predominantly Obama voters, it’s bound to be much higher among the general population, despite what leading Democrats have chosen to believe.

For most Americans, James Carville’s old slogan for Bill Clinton’s 1992 presidential race, “It’s the economy, stupid,” remains as much in effect as ever.

Yet the Democratic leadership remains staunchly and energetically behind the Waxman-Markey climate bill, which, the Heritage Foundation’s Center for Data Analysis determined, would reduce aggregate GDP by $7.4 trillion, kill 844,000 jobs and raise the energy bill paid by a typical family by about $1,500 annually.

The climate legislation isn’t just semi-suicidal for the economy; it could be for the Democratic leadership in Congress as well.

African-Americans have expressed frustration for years that the Democratic Party takes them for granted. When poll results among a group of overwhelmingly pro-Democrat voters are 76 percent in favor of putting the economy first on a very high-profile issue, and the Democrat leadership chooses to ignore them, who is likely to suffer the most in the end?

Barack Obama himself may escape much of the blame; he is, after all, the first African-American president, and he has (no doubt intentionally) kept his profile low on this bill. But will Nancy Pelosi and the predominately white Democrat leadership be so lucky?

There are a number of aspects that Republicans and Democrats differ on healthcare.  An example is how each view government spending for health care in a recently released survey:

Statement A: Reforming health care is so important that the government should invest new resources to make sure it is done right.

Statement B: Reforming health care is important, but it should be done without raising taxes or increasing the deficit.

GOP: 19% A / 75% B
IND: 32% A/ 62% B
DEM: 57% A / 38% B

But, there are a few proposal regarding Obamacare that they can agree on, including taxing health care benefits:

Statement A: Employees should pay taxes on the health care benefits they get from their employers to raise revenue to give everyone health insurance coverage.

Statement B: Employer provided health care should continue to be tax free.  Paying taxes on health care benefits will only make health care more expensive than it already is.

GOP: 14% A / 80% B
IND: 22% A/ 67% B
DEM: 30% A / 64% B

To recap, Democrats don’t want to pay for health care through an added tax on their own benefits; however, believe that Uncle Sam should just pay for it through the magic of deficit spending.

If you turn on cable news these days it seems like all anyone wants to talk about is Mark Sanford and how the marital infidelities of two potential Presidential candidates has all but guaranteed Barack Obama’s re-election to a second term as president.

However 2012 is a long way off and we still need to get through the 2009 and 2010 elections. Fortunately for Republicans, in New Jersey we are well positioned to win back the Governor’s Mansion. Chris Christie leads Governor John Corzine 51% to 39%.

 

WRS is proud to serve as pollster for the National Center for Public Policy Research on this project…

For Release: June 24, 2009
Contact: David Almasi at (202) 543-4110×11 or dalmasi@nationalcenter.org

African-Americans Favor Delay on Climate Change Legislation38% Believe Resulting Job Losses Would Fall Heaviest on Blacks; 56% Say Congress Fails to Adequately Take Into Account Their “Economic and Quality of Life” Concerns

 

Washington, DC - Democrats risk alienating one of their most important constituencies by advancing the Waxman-Markey climate change bill this week or any time before an economic recovery is underway, according to the non-partisan National Center for Public Policy Research.

The National Center for Public Policy Research bases this conclusion on the results of a nationwide poll it commissioned of African-Americans.  The poll, released today, suggests anxiety in the black community over Waxman-Markey-style regulations.

The survey of 800 African-Americans included 640 self-identified Democrats (80%) and 32 Republicans (4%).

Among the poll’s key findings:

* 76% of African-Americans want Congress to make economic recovery its top priority, even if it delays action on climate change;

* 38% believe job losses resulting from climate change legislation would fall heaviest on the African-American community.  Only 7% believe job losses would fall heaviest on Hispanics and only 2% believe they would fall heaviest on whites;

* 56% believe Washington policymakers have failed to adequately take into account the economic and quality of life concerns of the African-American community when formulating climate change policy;

* 52% of respondents aren’t willing pay anything more for either gasoline or electricity to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.  73% are unwilling to pay more than 50 cents more for a gallon of gas and 76% are unwilling to pay more than $50 more per year for electricity to reduce U.S. greenhouse gas emissions;

* African-Americans are virtually deadlocked on whether to proceed with plans to reduce greenhouse gas emissions if doing so increases consumer prices and unemployment.  44% of those surveyed said emissions reductions should not proceed under these circumstances, while 45% said they should continue.  Significantly, a strong majority (59% to 33%) of those surveyed in the West North Central Region (Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri, and Nebraska) and a plurality (43% to 42%) of those in the East Central Region (Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, Wisconsin) opposed emissions reductions if they increase costs or unemployment.

“If concern about a Waxman-Markey-style climate change bill is running this high among group of predominantly Obama voters, it’s bound to be much higher among the general population,” said David A. Ridenour, vice president of The National Center for Public Policy Research, who directs the group’s Center for Public Opinion Policy Center, which issued the poll.  “African-Americans are unwilling to pay even a cent more for gas and electricity to reduce greenhouse emissions.  Many are concerned that the costs of the regulations will fall disproportionately on them.  And an overwhelming majority of African-Americans prefer to put economic recovery before action on climate change.  All this spells a bad climate for climate change legislation.  If Speaker Pelosi ignores these signs of discontent within her party’s base, she does so at her own peril.”

“It’s also significant that the poll shows that support for the kind of climate legislation backed by the Democratic leadership is very weak in the  central states.” Ridenour added, “As the overwhelming majority of the people we polled are self-identified Democrats and Obama voters, one would expect them to largely agree with the Democratic leadership on this high-profile issue, but they don’t.  This may in part be why Speaker Nancy Pelosi has run into strong resistance to the Waxman-Markey bill from Democratic Congressmen representing the central states.”

The scientific, telephone survey of 800 African American adults was conducted by Wilson Research Strategies and has a margin of error of +/- 3.4%. The complete survey, with crosstabs, can be viewed at: http://www.nationalcenter.org/BlackOpinion.html.

The National Center for Public Policy Research is non-partisan, non-profit educational foundation based in Washington, DC.  It is a truly independent foundation with 94% of its revenue derived through hundreds of thousands of small contributions.  Just 1.5% of its revenue comes from corporations and 4.5% from philanthropic foundations.

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There are a few pollsters out there that claim to be publically distributing information, yet have a hidden agenda.  Let’s take the Public Policy Polling firm as a prime example.  This polling firm has consistently released polling number’s that show North Carolina’s senior Sen. Richard Burr’s approval ratings in the mid-30’s.  Normally, this is dangerous territory for any sitting incumbent, but a closer look at the firm producing these “facts” shows they have an agenda.

“We’re absolutely rooting in this race.  We don’t want Richard Burr to get reelected.  We wanted Obama to win last fall.” - Public Policy Polling pollster Tom Jensen.

This is a quote in lieu of poll that showed Senator Burr as “vulnerable” by an admitted partisan hack.  But Jensen decided not to make public his test of Sen. Richard Burr vs. the only announced opponent at this time, John Ross Hendrix.  Hendrix, a “graphic artist” and perennial candidate is the announced Democrat candidate to take on Burr, yet he is not tested in this so-called survey.  The simple fact remains that if Burr is tested in any poll against any “announced” Democrat, Burr cruises to reelection.  Whether or not Hendrix is tested in Jensen’s poll samples, we’ll never know.  What we do know is Jensen and Public Policy Polling will only release data that is favorable to Democrats.

Let’s look at another poll by Public Policy Polling in Ohio

This poll shows the Democrat(s) candidates leading the unopposed Republican candidate by 8-9 points.  At least they admit their sample is 50% Democrat; 35% Republican.  If anyone can tell me the last time a Presidential Democrat candidate won in Ohio by 15 points in my lifetime, I’ll buy you lunch. 

Case in point: the Public Policy Polling firm has an agenda: electing Democrats.  Taking their polls as scientific expert analysis as a true poll reflecting a hypothesis of voting behavior is a complete mistake.  Any media outlet promoting their polling data should undoubtedly be questioned.    Keep a close watch on this firm’s “public” polling, as it will consistently show Democrats leading to promote their own internal agenda.  If they work for Democrat candidates, fine.  But to release outrageous numbers showing essentially unopposed Senate candidates such as Richard Burr down is absurd and does a disgrace to the polling and survey community, as we stand by the numbers we produce for our clients and candidates.