Is Catalonia a Sign of our Times?

By John Zogby Strategies

After centuries of Nationalism as the de facto model across the world, sentiment appears less solidified in the increasingly digital and dynamic 21st-century world. While some may downplay the events taking shape in Catalonia – make no mistake about it – this is beyond rabble-rousing.

In a world that is hyper-connected, perhaps a clearer context can be found across the Atlantic from a recent poll of 800 American likely voters conducted by John Zogby Strategies.

Despite everyday children in schools across the country pledging allegiance to the U.S.A., JZS finds that only a quarter of likely voters feel that our national government “has the most positive impact on the lives of people” compared with other levels of government. We gave respondents options for a globally unified government, continental government (like the European Union), national government, state government, local government, and no government – regarding which form had the most positive impact on the lives of its citizens.

Overall, while national government was the most popular choice (25%), a little over 1 in 5 are not sure (which in itself speaks volumes). State government came in third (16%), followed by 14% believing that local government has the most positive impact. Almost one in ten (11%) opt for a globally unified government, 8% for something like a North American Union, and just 4% select no government at all.

These fractured results are almost mirrored when looking at race, age, party, and region. In other words, these demographic groups do not veer much from the overall findings when broken down.

The common theme found in the results is that the American public is fractured over which form of government has the most positive impact on the lives of citizens. If anything, this is a major wakeup call to leadership across the Western world, where dissatisfaction with current establishments is on the rise.

While Catalonians are expected soon to declare their Independence from the Spanish government and European Union – the world watches how the two governing bodies, who face a significant loss of confidence from their public, will react.  It is likely that the Catalonians have reached a point of no return.

Whether or not the EU and Spanish governments decide to act on previous threats made, questions over the scope and size of government have resurfaced to high levels and are here to stay. John Zogby Strategies will continue to track this development both at home and globally.

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White House Report Card: All Eyes on Next Week’s Cryptic ‘Storm’

From The Washington Examiner, by John Zogby

 

There are 33,000 fewer jobs in the economy but the unemployment rate went down to 4.2 percent.

After the Las Vegas tragedy the U.S. seems to be having another unity moment as Democrats and Republicans, as well as the NRA, have joined together to ban the “bump stock,” which enables semi-automatic weapons to be fired even faster.

But the president’s polling numbers have gone down into the 30s again, and he is not helping himself. He did not comport himself well in Puerto Rico. No, let me restate that: He stunk to high heavens. His words were disgraceful (“Puerto Rico is throwing our budget out of whack”), his capacity to pick personal fights continue to be his legacy-in-the-making, and his awkward tossing of supplies to those who gathered was cringe worthy. And he is not fooling anyone about his “confidence” in Secretary of State Rex Tillerson. So far, he is not up to the job.

Grade: F