Commentary and Analysis

It's been a busy 2021. Recap the year with the survey team's analyses of public opinion on the most critical issues at home and around the world.

Despite majority approval among Democratic public, congressional Democrats struggle to pass immigration reform.

John Austin, Brian Hanson, and coauthors write how leaders must address economic opportunity gaps with geography as a root cause of polarization.

“Blindly increasing our defense dollars isn’t a path to more security,” writes Senior Fellow Elizabeth Shackelford in the Chicago Tribune.

"The 2021 Chicago Council Survey finds that a narrow majority of Americans support some sort of boycott of this year’s Beijing Olympics,” Craig Kafura tells WTTW.

"If Taiwan […] is part of an international struggle against the PRC, how is that not a de facto ‘one China, one Taiwan’ policy?” writes Paul Heer in National Interest.

Limiting abortion access will “exacerbate longstanding racial and reproductive health inequities,” argues Katelyn Jones in the Chicago Tribune.

“The choice really now is Moscow. It can either engage in diplomacy or see the kinds of measures that President Biden laid out,” Ivo Daalder explains on CNN.

Cécile Shea discusses Russia-Ukraine tensions and the call between President Joe Biden and Russian President Vladimir Putin on Chicago Tonight.

Bruce Jentleson coauthors four suggestions for mitigating the pitfalls and maybe even pulling off a success at the Summit for Democracy in Politico.