Opinion Today

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U.S. Marijuana Smoking at Record High, Cigarettes at Low
Megan Brenan, Gallup
Seventeen percent of Americans say they smoke marijuana, tying Gallup’s record high, while cigarette smoking matches its record low of 11%. Vaping is steady at 9%, and 4% of U.S. adults say they use nicotine pouches.

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Nearly 30% of Democrats would choose Harris for 2028
Morgan Sweeney, The Center Square
Democrats continue to favor former Vice President Kamala Harris over 12 other candidates if the 2028 Democratic presidential primary were held today, according to The Center Square Voters' Voice Poll. 

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CNBC and SurveyMonkey Q3 2026 Quarterly AI & Jobs Survey
Sam Gutierrez, SurveyMonkey
Three in ten workers are using AI on a daily basis (21% multiple times a day, 8% once a day). Another 34% use it occasionally (a few times a week or less often), and 37% never use AI at work. How workers are using AI also differs: while research and gathering information is the leading use case overall among those who have ever used AI (56%), daily users are going beyond basic research.

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Political Entrepreneurs
Aaron Chatterji, Jorge Guzman, Joyce Ma & Ryan C. McDevitt, National Bureau of Economic Research
Firms shape public policy not only from the outside through lobbying and campaign contributions, but also from the inside when business owners hold public office. We study this channel using a novel dataset that links state legislators’ personal financial disclosures to bill sponsorship records across 26 U.S. states from 2009 to 2023.
Resolve & apprehension: 76% say Canada was right to ditch trade talks, but two-in-five have fear for their jobs
Angus Reid Institute
Three-in-four Canadians are endorsing the Carney government’s decision to walk away from trade negotiations with the United States late Friday night, confirming that long-expressed national resolve and desire to see Canadian negotiators take a “hard line” with Washington was more than theoretical.