Just four years ago, voters said national security was the most important political issue facing the nation. During Election 2008, the economy became their top priority, and national security was a distant second.
Despite efforts by the Obama political team and its surrogates to link Rush Limbaugh to the Republican Party, just 11% of GOP voters say the conservative radio commentator is the party’s leader.
Nearly one-third of Americans (32%) say crime has increased in their communities in the past year, and 72% of those impacted say it is Very Likely that increase is related to the poor economy.
Congress is poised to give the vote to Washington, D.C.’s representative in the House of Representatives, but 40% of U.S. voters say it’s a better idea to give the city’s residential areas back to Maryland so they can be represented by legislators from that state.
When it comes to important national issues, 73% of adults nationwide trust the judgment of the American people more than that of America’s political leaders.
In early October, as the meltdown of the financial industry gained momentum following the collapse of Lehman Brothers, a Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey found that 59% of U.S. voters agreed with Ronald Reagan that “government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem.”
Americans are closely divided over the need for continued affirmative action programs now the country has elected its first African-American president.
Thirty-five percent (35%) of U.S. voters have a favorable opinion of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi in a new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey.
Just 38% of U.S. voters think that the government should require all radio stations to offer equal amounts of conservative and liberal political commentary.
When it comes to the nation’s economic issues, 67% of U.S. voters have more confidence in their own judgment than they do in the average member of Congress.
Fifty-seven percent (57%) of American adults say political donors get more than their money back in terms of favors from members of Congress.
Fifty-nine percent (59%) of American adults believe that when members of Congress meet with regulators and other government officials, they do so to help their friends and hurt their political opponents. In a solid display of agreement across party lines, a majority of Democrats, Republicans and those unaffiliated with either major party share this view.
Many U.S. voters still think the recent pattern of the White House alternating between the political parties will continue, but Barack Obama’s early popularity is dampening that belief somewhat.
Ronald Reagan isn’t just a Republican thing anymore.
One thing for sure: Republicans and Democrats don’t agree on the future direction of the Republican Party.
Forty-four percent (44%) of Democratic voters believe President Bush and senior members of his administration are guilty of war crimes. Only 28% of the nation’s Democrats disagree.
President George W. Bush in a final press conference on Monday acknowledged he made some mistakes in the White House, but most Americans – at least for now – are a lot more critical than that.
What a difference a financial meltdown makes.
Just 26% of Americans think the United States will be safer at the end of Barack Obama's first year in office than it is today, according to a new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey.
Americans are narrowly divided over whether the United States will still be the world’s most powerful nation at the end of the current century.
