Chart dump

An episode of food poisoning (fried clams can be deadly!) interrupted my attempt to blog on Wednesday, so I'll offer a few semi-digested charts with notes here:

As many have argued, including me, open presidential elections are often a referendum on the departing incumbent. If so, that bodes well for a Clinton victory: Obama's approval rating is currently positive and rising.

This trend may, or may not, have something to do with this current PPP finding; opinion on Obamacare is turning mildly positive. Many rate increases are expected next year as insurance companies try to figure out how to keep their profits up under regulation. I wonder when the Affordable Care Act becomes so baked into the system that every blip is not a crisis?

This, from Kevin Drum, probably explains a lot of the attraction of the Yellow-haired Tantrum-tosser to some white men. They are feeling like losers. The women in their orbit, not so much so ... Everyone else has at least some reason to feel as if at least their economic lives are getting better. Of course, in the aggregate, white men started out ahead, but recent gains have gone to others, especially women.

Public Policy Polling often throws a curve into its surveys, a question whose answer is not particularly meaningful, but fun. Here's one. Most surprising, to me, is that we're barely distressed by sloth these days. This country was built -- and still runs -- on the need for manic work by most people. Are we no longer appropriately envious of anyone who is avoiding the rat race? Just wondering.