Saturday, March 14, 2026
Most Voters Think The Economic/Political System Is Stacked Against Them
The chart above is from the NBC News Poll -- done between February 27th and March 3rd of a nationwide sample of 1,000 registered voters, with a 3.1 point margin of error.
Trump Says He's Winning His War Against Iran - But This Doesn't Look Like Winning
The following is part of a post by Dan Rather:
It would be easy to say the president grossly miscalculated the Iranians’ ability to withstand war, but that assumes he calculated anything at all. This is a war executed on a whim, and Donald Trump could lose it.
The United States and Iran are playing an extraordinarily expensive game of chicken, and right now Iran is winning.
Trump may eventually retreat while claiming “victory,” but the hardliners in Tehran remain in control. They will demand concessions from the president before they stop attacks across the Middle East and allow ships to pass through the Strait of Hormuz, that narrow stretch of ocean that has a chokehold on the world economy.
While the White House doesn’t seem to have a coherent plan to fight this war, or how to end it, Iran does: inflict economic, political, and military pain until Trump utters “uncle.” They are doing a good job of it so far.
The Americans and Israelis continue to bomb Iran with no articulated endgame.
On Thursday, we awoke to images of two Iraqi tankers set ablaze by Iran in the Persian Gulf. For those of us who have watched and covered the region for years, it was a nightmare long feared, and it now means Iran and its radical clerics are calling the shots.
Don’t think so?
As we near the two-week mark, Iran has shut down the oil industry in the Gulf, causing global economic panic. On Thursday, we heard from the new ayatollah, Mojtaba Khamenei, son of the slain leader, who conceded nothing. In a statement, he vowed to keep the Strait of Hormuz closed, through which 20 percent of the world’s oil passes, as well as a host of petroleum-based products like plastics and fertilizer.
Iran is also reportedly mining the strait with explosives while successfully firing on U.S. warships and regional oil tankers. Seventeen U.S. military installations have been hit, as well as embassies in Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and Dubai.
“Get ready for oil to be $200 a barrel, because the oil price depends on regional security, which you have destabilized,” Iran’s military commander Ebrahim Zolfaqari said, ostensibly to Trump.
The International Energy Agency (IEA), a 32-country coalition including the United States, called this “the largest supply disruption in the history of the global oil market.” Even after the IEA agreed to release 400 million barrels of crude oil, prices continue to rise.
Analysts aren’t buying Trump’s assertion that prices will “drop very rapidly when this is over.”
Diane Swonk, Chief Economist for professional services firm, KPMG, told Bloomberg News that even if the war ends in a month, disruptions to the supply chain will take far longer to resolve. She described the situation as “similar in scope, not as bad, but similar to what we saw during the pandemic when everything shut down.”
While targeting the Gulf’s energy infrastructure, Iran is also engaging in cyber warfare. An Iranian hacker group took responsibility for a cyberattack on a medical tech company based in Michigan.
Trump is trying back-channel diplomacy, but two offers for a ceasefire from U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff have been rejected by Iran.
Iran’s current leadership remains intact and not at risk of imminent demise, according to Reuters. The Iranian military may have been severely damaged but has not been stopped by days of bombardment by the U.S. and Israeli militaries. None of this sounds like “winning.”
What about Trump’s plan? Pod Save America’s headline Thursday perfectly encapsulates his schizophrenic objectives: “Trump Says War Over, Vows to Keep Fighting.”
Friday, March 13, 2026
Voters Across The Political Spectrum Have A Low Opinion Of The Supreme Court
The chart above is from the NBC News Poll -- done between February 27th and March 3rd of a nationwide sample of 1,000 registered voters, with a 3.1 point margin of error.
Trump Is Still Getting Very Poor Numbers For His Handling Of The Economy
The chart above reflects the results of the NPR / PBS News / Marist Poll -- done between March 2nd and 4th of a nationwide sample of 1,591 adults (including 1,392 registered voters). The margin of error is 2.8 points for adults and 3.0 points for registered voters.
Most Americans Agree On Several Big Issues
The following is from Axios.com:
Watch the White House, Congress and most political campaigns, and it seems clear we're too polarized and too tribal to find common cause.
Well, that's a lie.
Algorithms and screens hide a more normal and agreeable American public. This actually extends to many hot political debates: Most people agree on most big topics most of the time.
This notional Bill of Rights synthesizes majority views from polling of U.S. adults:
1. Government should have no say in what we say, how we pray, how we protest and whom we love, provided we act legally.
79% of Americans say the government has gone too far in restricting the right to free speech. Strikingly, this view is held by 88% of Democrats and 86% of independents, showing it's not just a right-wing grievance. (NPR/PBS News/Marist Poll, October)
A landmark poll of 20,338 adults by the Kettering Foundation/Gallup Democracy for All Project, published in November, found 84% believe America's racial, religious and cultural diversity is a strength.
2. Government should keep the border tight, and settle the status of those who've been here for years.
A record-high 79% of U.S. adults consider immigration good for the country. (Gallup, June)
Two-thirds of registered voters say local officials should cooperate with federal immigration authorities on deporting illegal immigrants who have committed crimes. (Harvard CAPS/Harris, January)
But support for legal immigration hit an all-time high in the 23 years the Chicago Council on Global Affairs has asked the question (49%). And two-thirds of U.S. adults in the poll, out in October, support a path to citizenship for undocumented workers currently contributing to the economy.
3. Government should do its basic job of protecting the nation ... and then do less.
Just 17% of Americans now say they trust the government in Washington to do what is right "just about always" (2%) or "most of the time" (15%), Pew Research Center said in December.
Flash back seven decades: In 1958, when the National Election Study first asked the question, 73% of Americans trusted the federal government to do the right thing — 56 points higher than now.
4. Government should stop spending money we don't have, on things we cannot afford.
90% of registered voters are concerned that the national debt's effect on inflation is increasing the cost of living, according to a poll out two weeks ago from the Peter G. Peterson Foundation, which is dedicated to increasing awareness of fiscal threats.
5. Government should stop pretending our education system isn't a national embarrassment.
U.S. public satisfaction with K-12 education hit a record low last year in the 26 years Gallup has been polling on the question.
6. Government should allow guns but impose sensible restrictions.
72% of Americans support requiring a person to obtain a license from a local law enforcement agency before buying a gun, according to polling last year by the Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Violence Solutions. One-third of respondents were gun owners.
7. Government should start caring about American workers as much as it cares about the rich and powerful.
37% of Americans say "big business" is a bigger threat to the country's future than labor or government, tying the high in Gallup's trend.
80% of Americans see wealth inequality as a big problem. (Economist/YouGov Poll, January)
8. Government should stop micromanaging business.
51% of small businesses say navigating federal regulations is hurting their growth, with 69% reporting they pay more per employee to comply than their large competitors, the MetLife/U.S. Chamber of Commerce Small Business Index found.
Gallup found last year that 62% of Americans say the federal government has too much power. 51% think government "is trying to do too many things that should be left to individuals and businesses."
9. Government should take its duty seriously to remind citizens that they live in a great nation.
While trust in D.C. crumbles, 59% of Americans trust their state government and 65% trust their local government. (Gallup, November)
10. Government should prohibit elected officials from profiting from their power.
The Harvard CAPS/Harris poll surveyed 11 policies President Trump discussed in last month's State of the Union address. The most popular was a stock-trading limitation for members of Congress, with 72% support.
Bonus Amendment 11: Government should smartly regulate AI and quickly prep the American workforce.
A Vanderbilt Unity Poll released last week found 61% of Republicans and 56% of Democrats nationwide favor regulating AI, with agreement across all age ranges.
Across parties, majorities say the government should regulate AI to ensure economic stability (61%) and public safety (68%), a Reuters/Ipsos poll found last year.
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