Over half of Americans (55%) rate Barack Obama’s historic speech in Berlin yesterday good or excellent, and the Democratic presidential candidate is experiencing a modest bounce over John McCain nationally in the latest Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll.
Voters who have served in the U.S. military favor John McCain over Barack Obama by a 56% to 37% margin.
While Barack Obama has touted his travel to the Middle East and Europe this week as a “fact-finding” trip, 63% of Americans do not believe it makes the Democratic candidate any more qualified to be president.
With Washington abuzz over speculation that John McCain will announce his running mate this week to take some of the focus off Barack Obama’s overseas travels, over a third of U.S. voters say Mitt Romney will be the Republican vice presidential candidate.
The idea that reporters are trying to help Obama win in November has grown by five percentage points over the past month. The latest Rasmussen Reports telephone survey, taken just before the new controversy involving the New York Times erupted, found that 49% of voters believe most reporters will try to help the Democrat with their coverage, up from 44% a month ago.
Barack Obama says a vote for John McCain is a vote for George W. Bush’s third term, but a new Rasmussen Reports telephone survey finds that the Democratic hopeful would have a much easier time of it if he were actually running against the incumbent president this year.
Rasmussen Markets data on Friday morning shows that Hillary Clinton is given a 16% chance of becoming her party’s Vice-Presidential nominee. Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius is a close second at 15% and Indiana Senator Evan Bayh is the only other Democrat to reach double digits at 12%.
Barack Obama said yesterday that “instead of worrying about whether immigrants can learn English,” Americans “need to make sure your child can speak Spanish.” A national telephone survey conducted last month by Rasmussen Reports found that U.S. voters overwhelmingly disagree with the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee.
Going strictly by the numbers, the biggest perceived difference between Barack Obama and John McCain can be found on the issue of Iraq.
As we have noted many times, there is a disagreement within the polling industry as to whether or not polling firms should “weight” or adjust their sample to reflect a specific mix of Democrats, Republicans, and unaffiliated voters
Libertarian voters make up 4% of the nation’s likely voters and they favor Barack Obama over John McCain by a 53% to 38% margin.
Americans’ opinions are split on Barack Obama’s recent decision to opt out of public funding for his presidential campaign. A recent Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey found that 42% of adults believe his decision was smart, while 40% think it was hypocritical.
Following the lead of the United States Senate, most media coverage of the immigration debate misses the point. For example, a recent Associated Press story noted that since both Presidential candidates support a path to citizenship, immigration reform won’t be a “major point of differentiation” between them.
Since Barack Obama clinched the Democratic Presidential Nomination, most polls have shown the Illinois Senator with a modest lead over John McCain, typically around five percentage points. However, two recent polls, one by Newsweek and one by the Los Angeles Times, have shown Obama with a double digit lead.
Just 37% of voters nationwide think that Hillary Clinton wants Barack Obama to win the White House this November. The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey found that 33% disagree and say that Clinton does not want an Obama victory. Thirty percent (30%) are not sure.
Sixty-three percent (63%) of Likely Voters in the United States say that John McCain views American society as generally fair and decent. The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that only 14% think McCain views the nation as primarily unfair and discriminatory.
Despite all the agonized media coverage of Barack Obama’s decision to opt out of public funding for Election 2008, the decision is likely to have little impact on Obama’s standing with voters. A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey found that just 30% of voters favor public funding and just 16% say it is Very Important in determining their vote.
Barack Obama reversed course today and said he will not rely on public funding for his presidential campaign, breaking a pledge he made to pursue such an arrangement with his Republican rival John McCain.
Just 14% of voters believe there’s not much difference between Barack Obama and John McCain in terms of how they’ll actually perform as President. The latest Rasmussen Reports telephone survey found that 77% disagreed and see a significant difference.
Nearly three out of five voters (57%) believe it is not possible to run for the presidency without the help of lobbyists and special interest groups, even as the Obama campaign purged itself of an official with ties to the subprime lending crisis.
