Pollster New Year

A look back at 2011 in polls with Gallup's Year in Review.  Some highlights:
January -


The majority of Americans begin the new year with the expectation that 2011will be better than 2010.
With the GOP Republican field undetermined, Mike Huckabee is the best liked and Sarah Palin is the most recognized of the potential contenders.


May -


For the first time in Gallup history, a majority of Americans (53%) support legal gay marriage.


June -


Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann enters the Republican race tied with Herman Cain for the highest Positive Intensity Score of any GOP candidate Gallup tracks.
Americans express historically low confidence in most U.S. institutions.


August -


Americans' satisfaction with the way things are going in the U.S. falls back to 11%, the lowest level since December 2008.
Three in 10 U.S. workers fear being laid off, nearing the high seen in 2009.


October -


Gallup's employment tracking reveals that 30% of 18- to 29-year-olds in the U.S. are underemployed.
An increasing number of Egyptians say they are "finding it very difficult" to get by on their current income.


Nate Silver lines up FiveThirtyEight's hit's and misses of the year. 
At the Crystal Ball, Sabato takes to the YouTube for 2012 and Abramowitz reminds everyone that no, again, just like every other year, 2012 won't see and anti-incumbent wave.  So what are voters thinking then?  "Meh"  and "Go Packers!"
And finally, per tradition, polling on the first GOP candidates in Iowa is all over the place, but Mark Blumenthal says there's one last "one to watch" of 2011:

On New Year's Eve exactly four years ago, the Des Moines Register released its final poll of Iowa caucus-goers and turned the political world upside down.
While the newspaper's final Iowa Caucus poll of 2011, set to be published Saturday night at 7 p.m. Central Time (8 p.m. Eastern Time), may not confound the conventional wisdom this time, it is among the most eagerly anticipated political polls of the season for good reason. The Register has a hard-earned reputation for accuracy grounded in the fundamentals of survey research: Assume as little as possible about the likely caucus-goers, and let the voters speak for themselves.

Happy New Year.

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