Free Republic

Are Republicans actually about to win a political messaging battle? It’d certainly be shocking given the party’s track record, but that’s the story of a new Associated Press poll that is just brutal for the Democrat narrative on the debt ceiling fight.According to the results of the AP-NORC poll, a whopping 63 percent of Americans want a debt ceiling deal that includes measures to decrease the federal deficit. That compares to just 19 percent who want a debt ceiling increase to be passed without any conditions.Twenty-one percent of adults are following the debate over increasing the national debt limit closely...

Only a fragment of Americans believe democracy is thriving in the U.S., even as broad majorities agree that representative government is one of the country’s bedrock principles, according to a new poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. Just 16% of Americans say democracy is working well or extremely well, a pessimism that spans the political spectrum. Nearly half of Americans, 45%, think democracy isn’t functioning properly, while another 38% say it’s working only somewhat well. …

Young people in America overwhelmingly support LGBT rights when it comes to policies on employment, health care and adoption, according to a new survey. The GenForward survey of Americans ages 18-30 found that support for those policies has increased over the past two years, especially among young whites. But relatively few of these young adults consider rights for people who are lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender to be among the top issues facing the United States. According to the findings, 92 percent of young adults support HIV and AIDS prevention, 90 percent support equal employment, and 80 percent support LGBT...