With Japan now admitting its ongoing nuclear plant crisis is as bad as Chernobyl, concern about radiation from that plant reaching the United States has risen, and Americans are more worried about the overall impact on the U.S. economy.
Most Americans agree with President Obama’s recent statement about the need to limit U.S. dependence on foreign oil, but the majority also think it’s unlikely America will reduce that dependence as much as the president would like.
The Obama administration has dismissed rumors that BP was given the go ahead to resume drilling in the Gulf of Mexico. Meanwhile, the number of voters who believe protecting the environment gets in the way of a growing economy has reached its highest level in just over two years.
One-in-two Americans are ready to drill for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) to lessen the country’s dependence on foreign oil, but they’re not nearly so willing to drive 55.
As the Japanese continue to struggle with the damaged Fukushima nuclear facility, support for the building of nuclear plants in the United States has fallen to a new low. One-third of voters now favor phasing out nuclear power in this country.
Though American voters are still following news of the nuclear plant crisis in Japan, they are less worried about radiation reaching the United States.
The United States has defense treaties with a number of nations around the globe, and Rasmussen Reports is asking Americans periodically how they feel about going to bat for these countries if they're attacked. On the latest list of nine countries, most Americans support the United States helping to defend just two of them militarily, Panama and the Bahamas.
President Obama, former Vice President Al Gore and the United Nations, among others, argue that global warming is chiefly caused by human activity. A plurality of voters recognize that this view is held mostly by liberals rather than by all Americans.
Voters are closely divided over whether Japan is giving the world the straight story about its nuclear plant problems, but there’s little change in the level of concern about leaked radiation reaching this country.
Voters believe the recent earthquake in Japan will damage the U.S. economy and just over one-in-four plan to donate money to help the stricken island nation.
Voters are now evenly divided when asked if more nuclear power plants should be built in this country.
A sizable number of voters now worry that radiation released by the ongoing Japanese nuclear disaster may come to our shores.
Little is being said on Capitol Hill about immigration reform these days, but voters remain strongly convinced that border control should come first.
Most voters continue to favor strong sanctions on employers who hire illegal immigrants and landlords who rent to them. Voters also feel strongly that police should check the immigration status of drivers during routine traffic stops.
Pro-life state legislators are pushing several measures that critics view as restrictions on abortion, and most Americans agree that two of these proposals are at least somewhat likely to reduce the number of abortions in America.
A majority of voters, for the first time, support an immediate withdrawal of all U.S. troops from Afghanistan or the creation of a timetable to bring them all home within a year.
Looking back, a slight majority of Likely Voters believe the United States should never have gotten involved in Iraq in the first place. They also believe the mission there was more of a failure than a success.
A plurality of voters fears that the growing unrest in the Arab world will have a negative impact on the fragile political situation in Iraq, and most think it is unlikely that all U.S. troops will be out of that country by the end of the year as planned.
Most voters still want to see the national health care law repealed, and confidence that repeal will actually happen is on the upswing. Belief that repeal will be good for the economy, however, has fallen to its lowest level ever.
Egypt has long been the second largest recipient of U.S. foreign aid, but despite its apparent turn toward democracy and similar ongoing moves in neighboring countries, most Americans want to end that aid to all Arab nations in the Middle East. Just over half favor continuing foreign aid to the number one recipient, Israel.
