Political Commentary

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January 6, 2012Did Reagan Raise Taxes? Let GOP Candidates Answer By Joe Conason
Politicians and their flacks lie every day, but it is unusual for someone prominent to utter a totally indefensible falsehood like the whopper that just sprang from the mouth of Eric Cantor's press secretary on national television.
While interviewing the House majority leader, "60 Minutes" correspondent Leslie Stahl suggested that he might consider compromise because even Ronald Reagan had raised taxes several times. Cantor's flack then burst out in protest, saying he couldn't allow her remark "to stand."
January 5, 2012The Unbearable Consequence of Iowa By Froma Harrop
So Mitt Romney "won" Iowa by eight votes, giving him the "Big Mo" (that's momentum) as he marches forth into the primaries. What happened to Rick Santorum's surge? Did a Dodge Caravan full of supporters break down on the way to the gymnasium? I mean, world history has pivoted on less.
January 5, 2012Romney's Watchwords in Iowa: Divide and Conquer By Michael Barone
Elections are contests held during a moment in time between candidates who have records stretching back, often far back, into the past. So there is always a tension between the man (or woman) who is running and the moment.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                
                                
                
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                            January 3, 2012Romney, Paul on Top, But Read Iowa Caucus Polls With Caution
Scott Rasmussen takes a look at what the polling in Iowa suggests for today's caucuses and why polling for a caucus is much more difficult than polling for a primary or general election.
January 2, 2012'Nuts' to Iran By Froma Harrop
When the Germans told Gen. Anthony McAuliffe to surrender his forces in Belgium during World War II, the commander of the 101st Airborne Division famously replied, "Nuts!" The German officers didn't quite get his drift, which was "Go to hell."
January 2, 2012Steady in Iowa, Romney Counts on New Hampshire, Florida By Michael Barone
Election year has finally arrived, well after the beginning of a turbulent and unpredictable elections season, and voting begins on Tuesday in the Iowa Republicans caucuses.
December 30, 2011Could Ron Paul Be the Next Ralph Nader? By Joe Conason
Even as Barack Obama gradually climbs in national polls, more than a handful of the president's once-ardent admirers suddenly seem more attracted to Ron Paul.
December 30, 2011Art for Newt By Lawrence Kudlow
“The purpose of economic policy is growth, jobs, and prosperity,” supply-side founder Art Laffer told me today. As such, Laffer has endorsed Newt Gingrich and the Gingrich 15 percent flat-tax plan, which includes the 12.5 percent corporate-tax reform. “It’s nothing against the other candidates,” Laffer said. “But Newt’s plan is right, and therefore endorsing him is the right thing to do.”
December 30, 2011Voters Want Growth, Not Income Redistribution By Michael Barone
"A 2008 election widely regarded as heralding a shift toward the more government-friendly public sentiment of the New Deal and Great Society eras seems to have yielded just the reverse."
December 29, 2011The Little State That Could?: A Commentary by Froma Harrop
Rhode Island shouldn't even be a state. It's basically a city, Providence, with some suburbs, factory towns, a little countryside and Newport. The smallest state in area (19 Rhode Islands could fit into California's San Bernardino County), the Ocean State has a population of about 1 million (versus San Bernardino's 210,000).
December 29, 2011Five Days to Iowa By Geoffrey Skelley, Kyle Kondik and Larry J. Sabato
With the Iowa caucuses only five days away, we at the Crystal Ball wanted to suggest some possible electoral scenarios that could play out next Tuesday and beyond. Because we love history, and because the past is often prologue, each scenario has some historical precedent:
December 27, 2011Middle Class Aided Its Own Decline By Froma Harrop
This was the Year of the Middle Class -- as in, its falling incomes, loss of job security and anger. The global economic forces fueling the decline, such as foreign competition and computers, have been well reported. But what about cultural factors? Is the middle class going down partly because it stopped acting middle class?
December 26, 2011Obama Succeeds Abroad When He Follows Bush, Clinton By Michael Barone
The world usually turns out to work differently from what American presidents expected when they were campaigning.
Franklin Roosevelt campaigned on domestic issues in 1932 and ran a more isolationist foreign policy for his first years in office than any of the Republican presidents elected in the 1920s. But he became aware of the threat that Adolf Hitler posed earlier than most, and changed course accordingly.
December 23, 2011'Cool' Cities Are Not Necessarily Warm By Froma Harrop
The soft economy has left lots of Americans in place, whether they want to be or not. That would include the most mobile group, young people. But to the extent that adults ages 25 to 34 are still moving, their preferred destinations seem to be "cool cities," according to U.S. Census Bureau figures. What are the so-called cool cities? Denver, Houston, Dallas, Seattle, Raleigh, Austin, Washington, D.C., and Portland, Ore., among others.
December 22, 2011Paul Ryan’s Old-Fashioned American Vision By Lawrence Kudlow
When you think of Republican congressman Paul Ryan, terms like earnest, serious, and important come to mind. So does the term old-fashioned. Ryan comes from an old-fashioned place, the blue-collar town of Janesville, Wisconsin. He cherishes the old-fashioned values of a faithful family man. He even looks old-fashioned, with his white shirts and striped ties. And he uses old-fashioned argument skills, persuasively weaving big-picture themes with the numbers that back them up.
December 22, 2011The Lethal Fantasies of Dear Old Ron Paul By Joe Conason
The latest evidence of simmering racial resentment on the American political fringe showed up Monday in a Facebook post by a California man who urged the assassination of the president and his two daughters in obscene, racist language.
December 22, 2011New Hampshire Quick to Divorce Candidates, Not Marry Them By Michael Barone
Three weeks out from the New Hampshire primary, and voters in the Granite State don't seem to have settled firmly on one of the Republican presidential candidates.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                
                                
                
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                            December 20, 2011Romney, Paul and a Game of Musical Chairs in Iowa By Scott Rasmussen
Following the roller-coaster poll results from Iowa has been entertaining for some - and frustrating for many. In five consecutive Rasmussen Reports polls, five different candidates came out on top: Michele Bachmann, Rick Perry, Herman Cain, Newt Gingrich and now Mitt Romney. Adding to the confusion, most Iowa voters are still deciding and could change their mind before the January 3 caucuses.
December 20, 2011Gifts for the Unemployed By Froma Harrop
To many rational economists, holiday gift-giving is "an orgy of wealth-destruction," writes Dan Ariely in The Wall Street Journal. A behavioral economist at Duke University, Ariely makes pro-gifting arguments while acknowledging the bah-humbug view, which goes as follows: Givers often spend money on things others don't necessarily want, and the recipients frequently think the present cost less than the price actually paid for it. 'Tis more rational to give cash.
December 19, 2011A Democrat Reaches Across the Aisle on Medicare By Michael Barone
It's highly unusual in a presidential debate for two Republican candidates -- the two leading in current national polls -- to heap praise on a liberal Democratic senator. But in the Fox News debate in Sioux City, Iowa, Thursday night, both Newt Gingrich and Mitt Romney had very good words to say for Oregon's Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden.

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If it's in the News, it's in our Polls. Public opinion polling since 2003.

Political Commentary

Most Recent Releases

Did Reagan Raise Taxes? Let GOP Candidates Answer By Joe Conason

The Unbearable Consequence of Iowa By Froma Harrop

Romney's Watchwords in Iowa: Divide and Conquer By Michael Barone

Romney, Paul on Top, But Read Iowa Caucus Polls With Caution

'Nuts' to Iran By Froma Harrop

Steady in Iowa, Romney Counts on New Hampshire, Florida By Michael Barone

Could Ron Paul Be the Next Ralph Nader? By Joe Conason

Art for Newt By Lawrence Kudlow

Voters Want Growth, Not Income Redistribution By Michael Barone

The Little State That Could?: A Commentary by Froma Harrop

Five Days to Iowa By Geoffrey Skelley, Kyle Kondik and Larry J. Sabato

Middle Class Aided Its Own Decline By Froma Harrop

Obama Succeeds Abroad When He Follows Bush, Clinton By Michael Barone

'Cool' Cities Are Not Necessarily Warm By Froma Harrop

Paul Ryan’s Old-Fashioned American Vision By Lawrence Kudlow

The Lethal Fantasies of Dear Old Ron Paul By Joe Conason

New Hampshire Quick to Divorce Candidates, Not Marry Them By Michael Barone

Romney, Paul and a Game of Musical Chairs in Iowa By Scott Rasmussen

Gifts for the Unemployed By Froma Harrop

A Democrat Reaches Across the Aisle on Medicare By Michael Barone

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If it's in the News, it's in our Polls. Public opinion polling since 2003.

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