Uncle Academic Sends A Round Robin With Good News!

Hi, folks:

I thought I'd pass this info along to you guys because (1) it's encouraging but (2) makes clear how absolutely essential voter registration and turn out continues to be in states that are in play. Pass it on as you see fit.

Back on 6 June an ex-student friend of mine sent me a link to a short piece by Alex Pareene, Americans love class war! (Salon, 5 June 12) -- which I missed during the time I was in San Antonio for my granddaughter's graduation and then in Mexico. I just now checked it out. Of more interest are the two analyses that Pareene links to:

Ezra Klein, The most interesting findings -- and the most interesting chart -- from Pew's mega survey (Washington Post, 5 June 12) [I'm assuming this has been incorporated into the report of 12 July cited below, which is all I can find on the Pew site that sounds like the one referred to here

Elspeth Reeve, Pitchfork-Wielding Swing Voters Do Not 'Admire Rich People(AtlanticWire, 5 June 12) [This piece also refers to results from additional polls.]

Then there are various reports of the Pew Research Center itself:

Obama Holds Lead; Romney Trails on Most Key Issues

12 July 2012 Despite the stagnant economy and broad dissatisfaction with national conditions, Barack Obama holds a significant lead over Mitt Romney. Obama is favored by a 50% to 43% margin among registered voters. Romney loses ground on issue of which candidate can best improve the economy.

Republicans More Negative on Supreme Court (7 July 12)

Views of Race among Key Groups (7 July 12)
By Two-to-One, U.S. Public Supports Raising Taxes on Rich; Says More Fair

16 July 2012 Fully 44% of the public says that raising taxes on incomes above $250,000 would help the economy rather than hurt it (22%), while 24% say this would not make a difference. Moreover, an identical percentage (44%) says a tax increase on higher incomes would make the tax system more fair.
GOP Holds Early Turnout Edge, But Little Enthusiasm for Romney

21 June 2012 Obama Better Liked, Romney Ahead on Economy
I think we have reason to hope we're making progress on this last matter (note the date of the report), but it makes clear the continuing urgency of voter registration and turnout.

-- "Uncle Academic" writing from Stuttgart