Is Raising Taxes Good?

For my first real post, I found an interesting article written for the Pew Research Center claiming, as the title so eloquently puts it, that "Raising taxes on Rich Seen as good for Economy, and Fairness." This was done through a poll, and the astounding results indicate that a two to one majority of those polled stated it would help the economy if those that made over $250,000 would pay more in taxes. (I am assuming that the sample group most likely did not contain a majority of the 1%-ers) Here is the link for the website. Read and ponder...

Are We Prepared For The Real World?

For my first blog I took the initiative to remind us (seniors) how college has not prepared us to enter the workforce, sarcastically speaking of course.  The article I chose was written by the Gallup poll on the percent of American's who believe emerging adults are ready for the workforce, the article is titled appropriately, Many in U.S. Doubt That Students Are Prepared for Work.  In this article, you will find that only about half of adults think that college graduates are actually ready for the real world.  And I have to admit, I am rather sensitive to this claim.  If I graduated today, I would have no real idea on how to do anything in the real world, and I do not think the classes I am taking this semester and next will prepare me much further.  The question is for me, Who is to blame?  Is it the schools, professors, parents, students, society?  A combination of all?  I must admit, I have not really thought about how "prepared" I am for work until this school year so I guess the fault is partially mine (or students like me).  But if the student graduates from college, he or she obviously has fulfilled the institution's set requirements, and thus should be prepared for "work" or the "real world".  And I imagine the people who were polled have some experience with new college graduates entering their work place and would not blatantly lie on a poll that they believe they were unqualified.  So, what can the schools do to change this?  At Wabash, I believe we solve this issue by pressing the idea of some sort of other schooling after undergrad, be it law school, med-school, business school or what have you.  Is a Bachelor's degree not enough anymore?

Blake's Intro

Greetings.  My name is Blake Mattingly and I am from New Palestine, IN which is about 20 miles east of Indianapolis. I  am majoring in Philosophy and minoring in Political Science and am a senior.  I plan on attending law school after I graduate and pursuing a career in sports law.  I have never blogged before but can appreciate the informality of reading people's opinions on respected issues. My topic for blogging will be education since it is a rather behind-the-scenes topic I would like to look in to further. 

First Post: U.S. and the Latin Neighbors

Here we go on my first blog post. I will either succeed with flying colors or crash and burn in a blaze of glory. Either way, I am doing it!

I went to the Gallup website in search of an article to talk about today. Since my focus this semester is foreign policy, I was a little worried that the Gallup Polls would not have much to offer me. From what I know about them, it is fairly domestic based polling. However, there is an entire section based on foreign policy called Foreign Policy Opinion Briefing. It was the perfect place to begin the search for my first blog article. 

The Article I choose was Opinion Briefing: U.S.-Latin America Relations. With the Presidential Election getting closer and closer, we debate amongst ourselves on who should be the next President of our country. Occasionally, it is always refreshing to get a new and more unbiased perspective on the Presidential Election. This article takes a look at the approval rating of Latin American countries in 2009 and compares them to approval ratings for today. It is quit interesting what comes up.

Obama has always portrayed himself as the defender of the minorities, especially of Latino decent. Now, it seems the countries from which this group hails from are starting to lose interest in Obama and what he is doing.Nearly every country on the list has dropped in their approval rating except for Paraguay. 

When it comes to the affect domestically, we have to take these approval ratings with a grain of salt. After all, their disapproval of Obama may stem from other things (particularly foreign policy) that the typical American does not bother himself with. In an election where foreign policy will be nearly non-existent, the opinions of neighboring countries is a fresh, but not very helpful, opinion.

Greetings!

Greetings! My name is Jim Martin, a Political Science major focusing on American Politics. My blog is going to focus on public opinion concerning taxation and spending issues in the United States. I am a periodic blogger on the Wabash College website for my travels with the school as well as the student life. I am in my last semester for college and I am attempting to enter into politics upon my graduation in December. Thanks for reading, and we will be updating this political blog in the near future. Jim

Let Me Introduce Myself...

My name is Sam Spoerle and I am a Political Science major here at Wabash College. My area of focus is on foreign policy and so, my issue of choice will be foreign policy. Pretty obvious. I am also pursuing a minor in computer science. Two areas of academia on opposite ends of the spectrum. I look forward to keeping you posted in the near future! Till then. Have fun!

Welcome to PSC 371's Public Opinion Blog!

The four of us will be blogging here regularly about public opinion-related current events.

As captain of the ship, my posts will be the most haphazard (and probably the least regular) - they'll include links to poll reports on a wide variety of issues, in-class readings, and other updates, articles, and blog posts of interest.

The other contributors will each be focusing on public opinion developments surrounding a single issue of their choice. They'll introduce themselves and their issue selections in the coming week.