Ever since we launched our election model in late June, it has moved entirely in one direction: toward Democrats. Pretty much every week, they’ve either gained ground in our forecast or held steady. 

This week has been more in the “held steady” category. In the Deluxe version of our model, Democrats’ chances of keeping the Senate are 71 percent, while their chances of holding the House are 31 percent. Neither number has meaningfully changed from a week ago.

Homicides in major U.S. cities are dropping in 2022, but total violent crime continues to rise, according to a midyear survey of large law enforcement agencies.

Why it matters: The annual midyear survey shows that violent crime rates still haven't returned to pre-pandemic levels, but homicides and rapes in some cities appear to be falling.

By the numbers: Overall violent crime spiked 4.2% from Jan. 1 to June 30, 2022, compared to the same period as last year, the survey by the Major Cities Chiefs Association found.

Twenty-one years after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks of 2001, Americans across the political spectrum share many of the same feelings when it comes to their memories and sentiments related to the attacks. 

However, younger adults demonstrate less connection to the event — and the feelings of unity that many Americans felt following the attacks — than their older counterparts, according to a new poll by nonprofit More In Common and research firm YouGov.

 Americans have become less content in recent years with the quality of the nation's K-12 education. The 42% who say they are satisfied today is the lowest measured in the past two decades by one percentage point and the second-lowest reading in Gallup's 23-year trend. Americans' satisfaction with schools was at a near-record high of 51% in 2019 before dropping slightly each year since.

Recently, an image that listed books banned in Florida libraries and schools began making the rounds on Twitter. The 25 titles, spanning classics from “To Kill a Mockingbird” to “A Wrinkle in Time,” caught the eyes of many, including Randi Weingarten, who is president of the American Federation of Teachers, a major teacher’s labor union in the U.S.

Only one problem: The list was fake. There is no banned-book list at the state level in Florida.

 Some 71% of Americans—including about half of Republican voters—say they want stricter gun control laws, a new poll from the University of Chicago Harris School of Public Policy and the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research suggests, two months after President Joe Biden signed the most major gun control legislation in decades to stem a rising tide of mass shootings in 2022.

CHICAGO (AP) — Most U.S. adults want to see gun laws made stricter and think gun violence is increasing nationwide, according to a new poll that finds broad public support for a variety of gun restrictions, including many that are supported by majorities of Republicans and gun owners.

While the economy remains the dominant issue in this fall’s midterm elections, the issue of abortion has increased markedly in importance among Democrats following the Supreme Court’s decision ending the federal guarantee of a right to legal abortion in the United States.

The coronavirus outbreak has transformed many aspects of public life since 2020, including how Americans work, go to school and attend religious services. More recently, restrictions on public activities in many places have been lifted, and Americans are increasingly more comfortable with returning to normal activities.

The horror and tragedy of mass shootings in American schools, churches and other public places capture the nation's attention. But these are only part of the larger violence of mass killings – deaths by guns, knives, fires, vehicles and other weapons in public and in private – that plague the U.S., research shows.