Partisanship Trumps Gender: PRRI in the News

As both political parties confront a new wave of sexual misconduct complaints unleashed by the #MeToo movement, more than half of Republicans say that they would still consider voting for a candidate accused of sexual harassment as long as they agreed with them on the issues, writes Carrie Dan of NBC News. Citing a new survey by PRRI, Dann writes,PRRI’s data “shows how the latest controversy has exacerbated existing differences between the left and the right over how seriously allegations of sexual misconduct should be taken in public life.” For Salon, Amanda Marcotte spoke with Dan Cox, Ph.D., Director of Research at PRRI, about the survey’s findings on partisan attitudes towards allegations of sexual harassment. According to PRRI’s survey, 81 percent of Democrats, including 84 percent of women and 76 percent of men, say they would definitely not vote for someone accused of sexual harassment. By contrast, only about a third (34 percent) of Republicans, including 41 percent of women and 28 percent of men, agree.

Confidence in Pope Francis Falls Sharply

About half (51 percent) of Americans have a favorable view of Pope Francis, a drop from two years ago when it was seven in ten, reports NPR’s Tom Gjelten. Gjelten attributes Francis’ slide in popularity to the sex abuse scandal roiling the church, for which the pontiff has been criticized for handling poorly. Thirty-one percent of American Catholics say the pope is doing an “excellent” or “good” of job addressing the abuse scandal, down 24 percentage points from 2015 and down 14 points from January of this year. A PRRI report from 2016 shows that those who were raised Catholic are more likely than those raised in any other religion to cite the clergy sexual-abuse scandal (32 percent vs. 19 percent) as a primary reason for why they left the Church.

Drug Companies Fear Democratic Congress

A new report in The Hill posits that if the November midterm elections translate into Democratic control of the House of Representatives, drug companies may not be happy. The article quotes several Democratic lawmakers who say taking on big pharmaceutical companies and pushing to lower the cost of medication would be a top-line issue for the new Congress. “I think right out of the gate, we make a down payment on what we’re going to do about the costs of prescription drugs, and I would hope within the first 100 hours we would be able to put some constraints on big pharma,” Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-IL) says. The piece also quotes an anonymous lobbyist who says drug companies feel like they are “on their heels.” PRRI’s newest data shows that nearly six in ten (58 percent) Americans, including two-thirds (67 percent) of Democrats, say the rising cost of health care is a critical issue to them personally.

Gender Pay Gap Persists Across Commercial Real Estate

According to the Commercial Real Estate Women Network (CREW), there remains a deep gender pay gap in the commercial real estate industry. A new paper released by the group finds that men earn 29.8 percent more than women working in the most senior commercial real estate positions. The research is consistent with a recent study performed by the Real Estate Transaction Standard, an industry recruitment firm, which found 87 percent of women in the industry agreed that there was a pay gap. Jana Turner, a principal associate at the firm writes, “Equal pay and opportunity discrimination are important issues that should be reviewed by industry leaders with the intent to make significant progress in 2019 and beyond. Unfortunately, commercial real estate lacks some fundamental progress made in other industries. With that said, it’s up to our leaders to address these issues immediately.” A recent PRRI study found that 30 percent of Americans believed that the gender pay gap was a critical issue. Among those respondents, nearly four in ten (39 percent) women, compared to only 22 percent of men, say that the pay gap between men and women is a critical issue. Notably 39 percent of men said that it was not that important of an issue.

The Atlantic: The Face of the Millennial Anti-Abortion Movement

Lila Rose, a 30-year-old anti-abortion activist and founder of Live Action, was recently profiled in an online documentary by The Atlantic. In it, Rose explains why she is trying to change the way young, pro-life women communicate their message to the masses. “Our rights, our human rights, don’t come from the state,” Rose says. “There is a higher power and an absolute truth that we can build a society on.” Rose achieved fame as a teenager for secretly videotaping her conversations with Planned Parenthood personnel. Planned Parenthood decried Live Action in a statement to The Atlantic, alleging that Live Action has a “history of doctoring video” and that they had “no credibility.” PRRI’s latest surveyfound that most Americans (56 percent) believed that Roe v. Wade should be upheld. The survey found that men (55 percent) and women (58 percent) were equally likely to affirm the decision of the case.