The Morning Buzz | June 28, 2012

Welcome to the Morning Buzz, PRRI’s morning dose of religion-related news with a shot of data – because what doesn’t liven up a morning round-up like some public opinion numbers? Before you read anything else today, know that America has spoken on the most important issue of our time: which presidential candidate would be better suited to handle an alien invasion.

Political junkies are on tenterhooks, waiting for the Supreme Court’s decision on health care reform to come down (turning one blogger for the Supreme Court into a minor celebrity). PRRI’s latest poll reveals that Americans are divided on whether the high court should overturn the health care law, although a sizeable number (21%) say they have no opinion – a reminder that some don’t follow news from inside the Beltway quite as closely as others.

Fans of sweeping generalizations will find themselves at home with Elizabeth Kolbert’s latest piece for the New Yorker, in which she observes: “With the exception of the imperial offspring of the Ming dynasty and the dauphins of pre-Revolutionary France, contemporary American kids may represent the most indulged young people in the history of the world.” I’ll grant that even some younger Millennials (age 18-24) describe themselves as “more entitled” or “lazier” than their parents’ generation, but the dauphins of pre-Revolutionary France? No child these days has such a lavish wig or sash.

If a clinic in Jackson, Mississippi is unable to comply with a law that takes effect on Sunday, Mississippi could become the first state in the country without an abortion provider. Although abortion is clearly a contentious issue (especially in Mississippi), nearly 6-in-10 (58%) Americans say that at least some health care professionals in their communities should provide legal abortions.

Washington Post columnist E.J. Dionne declared that Supreme Court justice Antonin Scalia should resign from the bench because of political aspirations betrayed in his opinion on Arizona v. United States.

A controversy erupted over whether progressives’ criticism of a gay conservative group that endorsed Mitt Romney strays into hate speech. As of a poll released yesterday, about one-quarter of Americans who identify as “conservative” also support same-sex marriage.

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