28% of registered voters say the country is headed in the right direction. 59% of registered voters say the country is on the wrong track.
| Right track | Wrong track | |
|---|---|---|
| Democrats | 60% | 27% |
| Republicans | 9% | 89% |
| Independents | 19% | 68% |
[Econ/YouGov 10/12/21]
In 2021 about half of Americans get news on social media at least “sometimes”; this is down slightly from 2020.
| 2021 | 2020 | |
|---|---|---|
| Often | 19% | 23% |
| Sometimes | 29 | 30 |
| Rarely | 19 | 18 |
| Never | 24 | 21 |
| Don’t get digital news | 9 | 7 |
The following shows the percentage of U.S adults who use a particular site and how many regularly get news on that site.
| Regularly get news on site | Use the site | Regular users | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Men | Women | |||
| 31% | 66% | 35% | 64% | |
| YouTube | 22 | 72 | 56 | 43 |
| 13 | 23 | 56 | 43 | |
| 11 | 41 | 36 | 63 | |
| 7 | 17 | 67 | 31 | |
| TikTok | 6 | 21 | 30 | 68 |
| 4 | 26 | 54 | 44 | |
| Snapchat | 4 | 23 | 40 | 59 |
| 3 | 21 | |||
| Twitch | 1 | 7 | ||
[PEW 9/20/21]
This year, Social Security checks are going up by 5.9%, the highest increase in decades. The boost will affect nearly 70 million people. [NBC News 10/13/21]
Already this year, 18 weather disasters costing at least $1 billion each have hit the United States. These 18 events put 2021 in second place for the most billion-dollar disasters, just behind 2020 when there were 22 such events. Last year shattered the previous annual record of 16 such events, which occurred in 2017 and 2011. [WP 10/11/21]
More than a third of adults seeking housing, groceries, or new cars had trouble procuring them between August 15th and September 15th, 2021. Below is the full list of hard-to-get items.
| A house or apartment | 44% |
| Specific types of groceries and food | 43% |
| Paper goods, such as towels or toilet paper | 39% |
| A new car, pickup truck, etc | 34% |
| A used car, pickup truck, etc | 30% |
| Supplies for home repairs, improvements | 29% |
| Home appliances | 23% |
| Exercise and sports equipment | 23% |
| Motorcycles | 22% |
| Furniture | 21% |
| Electronics, cell phones, computers | 18% |
| Clothing/Apparel | 14% |
[Morning Consult 9/21/21]
A rising share of U.S. adults are living without a spouse or partner – the following is the percentage of the population ages 25-54 who are:
| 1990 | 2019 | |
|---|---|---|
| Unpartnered | 29% | 38% |
| Cohabiting | 4% | 9% |
| Married | 67% | 53% |
Men are more likely than women to be unpartnered. A change from 30 years ago. [PEW 10/5/21]
The following list details annual public spending per child on early childhood care.
| Norway | $29,796 |
| Iceland | 24,427 |
| Finland | 23,353 |
| Denmark | 23,140 |
| Germany | 18,656 |
| Sweden | 18,010 |
| OECD average | 14,436 |
| Austria | 12,864 |
| Slovenia | 10,664 |
| New Zealand | 10,349 |
| Spain | 9,084 |
| Chile | 8,450 |
| Lithuania | 8,184 |
| Australia | 8,088 |
| Hungary | 7,222 |
| Israel | 3,322 |
| UNITED STATES | 500 |
[NYT 10/06/21]
Americans’ approval of the job being done by the U.S. Supreme Court has fallen to 40% – its lowest point since at least 2001. 53% disapprove of the job the Court is doing.
Approval has fallen 18 points over the last year when it was 58%. The previous low was 42% in 2016.
Further, confidence in the federal judiciary as a whole is now at 54%, the lowest it has been since 1973 except for a 53% rating in 2015. Other than those two scores, the previous low was 61% in 2014 and 2016. [Gallup 9/23/21]
52% of Americans say the government is doing too many things that should be left to individuals and businesses. 43% want the government to do more to solve the country’s problems. A year ago, 54% said the government should do more to solve problems. [Gallup 10/14/21]
Of the three branches of the U.S. government, which one do you trust the most?
| The US Congress (the legislative branch) | 16% |
| The Presidency (the executive branch) | 25% |
| The US Supreme Court (the judicial branch) | 58% |
[Marquette University law school poll 9/16/21]
The FBI says murder and manslaughter rose 29.4% in 2020. This is the largest one-year increase since the federal government began compiling national figures in the 1960s. [WP 2021]