Seth Motel

Public support for same-sex marriage has surged: 57% of Americans favor allowing gays and lesbians to marry legally, up from 36% in 2005 and 27% in 1996.

The 2010 spill was one of the two biggest stories of the year in terms of news interest. Support for offshore drilling plummeted, but has largely recovered.

Nearly nine-in-ten Republicans are opposed to the 2010 health care law and roughly eight-in-ten Democrats support it. Most Americans say the ACA has not directly affected them or their family.

NASA continues to be very popular among the public, with four times as many Americans holding a favorable view of the space agency as unfavorable (68% vs. 17%).

While the $467.5 billion deficit projection for fiscal 2015 is the lowest since 2007, the nonpartisan agency predicts higher deficits in the years to come. Meanwhile, the public’s concerns about reducing the deficit have varied over the past two decades, according to the Pew Research Center’s annual policy priorities surveys.

President Obama’s approval rating has barely moved in over a year and remains at 43%. In fact, the share of Americans approving of Obama has wavered between 41% and 45% in 13 consecutive Pew Research surveys dating back to September 2013.

About half of U.S. adults (49%) followed Ebola news very closely last week, elevating the story to our list of most-followed events since 2010.

Midterm elections rarely excite the general public, but 2014 is shaping up to be an especially underwhelming cycle for many Americans.

Just 24% of Americans can correctly pick out Janet Yellen — from a list of four — as the chair of the Federal Reserve Board.