Poll Watch 11/21/10: News, Voting Trends, and Body Scans

According to a recent Pew poll, Americans have some general knowledge of what’s going on in the news, but most don’t know very many specifics. For example, only 16% of know that more than half of the TARP loans have been repaid; and remarkably, only 53% of those surveyed know that unemployment is sitting at 10%.  Old folks are way smarter than young folks, getting the correct answer more often 10 of 12 times.  Yours truly is smarter than 98% of the rest of the population, getting the correct answer on 11 of 12 questions.

Asian voters are at least willing to consider Republican ideas, at least in California according to an LA Times/USC poll.  On how to cut the massive deficit in the Golden State, more Asians (51%) than whites (46%) or Latinos (35%) said decreased spending was the answer, as opposed to tax hikes. Among the three groups, more Asians (38%) feel that same-sex partners aren’t entitled to any legal recognition, compared to 19% for Latinos and 12% for whites.

Last but not least, what about those full body scanners? According to a CBS News poll conducted this month, 81% of Americans say they’re OK.  The poll didn’t ask about the new enhanced pat-down procedures which are used by the TSA, either as an alternative to the scanners, or at airports where the scanners are not yet available; I suspect there's be a lower approval rate on that, but maybe not.  In the same poll, Republicans (46%) and Independents (40%) believe that racial or ethnic profiling at airports is justified, while (not surprisingly) Democrats (26%) tend to disagree.

What's your opinion?