How big a deal is Congress for ordinary Americans? In a mid-June Fox News/Opinion Dynamics survey, 36 percent said that a shift in the partisan control of Congress would make a lot of difference in their lives. Another 30 percent said it would make some difference, while only 16 percent and 13 percent said a little or no difference, respectively.

Resident Fellow Karlyn Bowman

And how satisfied were respondents about the current Congress? Just 29 percent approved of the job Congress was doing. Broken down by party affiliation, 23 percent of self-described Democrats, 41 percent of Republicans and 22 percent of independents said they approved of the job Congress was doing.

U.S. Leadership on Terrorism. The Pew Global Attitudes project recently released a 15-nation survey on attitudes about various countries, the Iraq war, the situation in Iran and bird flu. Most interviews were conducted in April and May.

Respondents were asked whether they favored or opposed “the U.S. led efforts to fight terrorism.” Seventy-three percent of Americans favored the effort, compared to 65 percent of respondents in India, 52 percent in Russia, 49 percent in Great Britain and Nigeria, 47 percent in Germany, 43 percent in France, 39 percent in Indonesia, 30 percent in Pakistan, 26 percent in Japan, 19 percent in Spain and China,16 percent in Jordan, 14 percent in Turkey and 10 percent in Egypt.

Zarqawi’s Revenge? Twenty-four percent of respondents told CBS News interviewers in a June 10-11 poll that attacks on Iraqi civilians would increase as a result of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi’s killing; 18 percent said they would decrease; and 54 percent said they would stay about the same. In the meantime, 30 percent of respondents said that attacks on U.S. troops would increase as a result of al-Zarqawi’s killing, 16 percent said they would decrease, and 50 percent said they would stay about the same.

The results were similar on a slightly different question asked June 9-11 by Gallup/USA Today. Thirty percent said there would be more insurgent attacks in Iraq as a result of his death, 20 percent said there would be fewer attacks, and 48 percent said there would be about the same number.

In the meantime, 31 percent of respondents in a mid-June Fox News/Opinion Dynamics survey called al-Zarqawi’s death a major victory, 46 percent said it was a minor one and 20 percent said it was not a victory.

Changing Religions. In its June 9-11 survey, 72 percent of those polled told Gallup and USA Today interviewers that they had always had the same religious preference. Another 15 percent said they had switched from one religion to another, while 10 percent said they had moved away from religion.

When those who had switched were asked why they had done so, the top two reasons were disagreement with the teachings of their original religion (40 percent) and finding a new religion that was more fulfilling (38 percent).

Black Men in America. In a recently released poll taken in March and April, The Washington Post, the Kaiser Family Foundation and Harvard University asked a large sample of Americans how various groups in this country were doing.

Just 10 percent of black men said that black men were doing very well. Forty percent of white men thought white men were doing very well.

In another question, 34 percent of black men said things were getting worse for black men in general, 29 percent said they were getting better and 36 percent said they were staying about the same. Black women were in general agreement about the condition of black men. By contrast, 58 percent of white men felt things were getting better for black men.

When asked about the single biggest problem facing black men today, 31 percent of black men responded that young black men were not taking their education seriously enough, followed by 15 percent who cited drug and alcohol abuse and 14 percent who pointed to irresponsible fathers.

When asked about the cause of the problems facing black men, 23 percent of black men said the problems were more a result of what whites had done to blacks, while 59 percent said the problems were a result of what black men have failed to do.

In another question, 61 percent of black men said that black men do not show proper respect for black women. Fifty-seven percent of this group called this a serious problem.

World Cup Fever? Nearly seven in 10 Americans--69 percent--told Gallup in early June that they did not plan to watch any of the World Cup soccer matches. Nine percent said they would watch as much as possible about them, while 22 percent said they would watch some but not a lot. Those responses are not significantly different from Gallup’s polls on the subject in 1990, 1994 and 2002.

In a Pew Research Center survey conducted in February and March this year, only 4 percent of those surveyed said soccer was their favorite sport. But six times as many Hispanics--24 percent--listed it as their favorite.

Karlyn H. Bowman is a resident fellow at AEI.