Politics

Social Conservatism in U.S. Highest in About a Decade

Social Conservatism in U.S. Highest in About a Decade

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- More Americans this year (38%) say they are very conservative or conservative on social issues than said so in 2022 (33%) and 2021 (30%). At the same time, the percentage saying their social views are very liberal or liberal has dipped to 29% from 34% in each of the past two years, while the portion identifying as moderate (31%) remains near a third.

The last time this many Americans said they were socially conservative was 2012, during a period when consistently more U.S. adults identified as conservative rather than liberal on social issues.

New York lost jobs in April, unemployment rate ticks down

New York lost jobs in April, unemployment rate ticks down

New York state's economy lost more than 25,000 jobs in the private sector in April, the state Department of Labor reported on Thursday.

Still, the unemployment rate declined slightly from March to April from 4.1% to 4%, state officials said, as the number of unemployed people declined from rom 391,600 in March to 385,000 in April.

Job growth in the country overall is outpacing New York, which has struggled to regain the jobs last more than three years ago in the immediate aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic.

A885A/S657, the Elections Database & Institute Bill

A885A/S657, the Elections Database & Institute Bill

New York is infamous for its election administration failures and lack of publicly available information. This bill, A885A/S657, would move New York from worst to first, creating the New York Voting and Elections Database and Institute housed within the State University of New York and the City University of New York to maintain and regulate public election data.

The Database and Institute would provide data including election results, district maps, poll sites, and more, and provide information useful not only to the public, but for election administrators and lawmakers to use as they continue the important work of improving elections in New York.

This sounds like an interesting concept that the State Senate has passed. While I have no opinion on it, I think it would be useful to take advantage for analysis should it become law, especially as it could make crunching state-wide numbers easy. Already, things have made a big step forward now that County Boards of Elections are required to post Shapefiles of Election Districts, although already that was coming the norm with most counties now having publicly-accessiable MapServers.