Barack Obama said repeatedly on the campaign trail that the war on terror was being fought on the wrong front, and 71% of U.S. voters say he is likely to send more troops to Afghanistan in his first year in the White House.
In the final full month of his Presidency, just 13% of American adults said they Strongly Approved of the way that George W. Bush performed his job as president. Forty-three percent (43%) Strongly Disapproved.
Forty-six percent (46%) of U.S. voters believe working Americans should be allowed to opt out of Social Security to provide for their own retirement planning, an idea not likely to gain much traction with Democrats more strongly in control of Congress.
Welcome to 2009! Last year was a rough one for all of us, but many Americans are pinning their hopes on Barack Obama, who becomes president in less than three weeks.
Over half of Americans (52%) now believe it is possible for Israel and the Palestinians to live in peace, but just 35% think Barack Obama is likely to help end the conflict during his presidency.
Americans, while far more sympathetic to Israel than the Palestinians, are closely divided over whether the Jewish state should be taking military action against militants in the Gaza Strip.
The beginning and the end of the 2008 General Election campaign were remarkably stable. Initially, after Barack Obama wrapped up the Democratic nomination, he was ahead of John McCain by four to seven points just about every night for the entire month of June. At the other end of the campaign, Obama was consistently up by about five to seven points for the last 40 days of the campaign.
With the country preparing to inaugurate Barack Obama as the next president of the United States next month, it’s hard to remember how improbable the notion of a President Obama seemed just a year ago. In fact, all indications are that Obama himself wasn’t really expecting to win it all in 2008.
It’s a showdown between the two most influential presidents of the 20th Century. Franklin D. Roosevelt versus Ronald W. Reagan.
Finally, the commercial season comes to a brief close, and the real meaning of Christmas is celebrated.
Barack Obama is just about the only bright spot on the horizon for most Americans as Christmas comes and the troubled year of 2008 nears a close.
Forty-seven percent (47%) of U.S. voters are worried that America is developing an unofficial group of “royal families” with too much influence over government and politics.
Just 37% of U.S. voters believe Caroline Kennedy is qualified to be in the U.S. Senate, and only 16% say she would be considered as Hillary Clinton’s replacement if her last name wasn’t Kennedy.
The Supreme Court on Monday opened up another avenue for smokers to sue tobacco companies, but 71% of U.S. voters say the companies should not be held liable for health problems that current smokers develop.
It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas – except maybe in economically hard-hit Michigan and slow-to-get-started Florida.
Debate ran high within Barack Obama’s transition team over whether the next secretary of Education should be a traditionalist in sync with the national teachers’ unions or a reformer who will help break the hold those unions have on Democratic Party policy. Obama's choice of Chicago School Superintendent Arne Duncan is seen as a move to bridge those competing camps.
Forty-seven percent (47%) of homeowners in Michigan believe their homes will be worth more in five years than they are now, according to the latest Rasmussen Reports telephone survey in the state. That result is 12 percentage points below what homeowners think nationwide.
Seventy-eight percent (78%) of Florida voters say former Governor Jeb Bush is likely to run for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Mel Martinez in 2010.
Even though half of Massachusetts voters say that the quality of healthcare in their state has stayed the same since enacting a universal healthcare bill, only 40% say using the system as a model would be good for the rest of the country.
Nearly half of U.S. voters (46%) say the quality of health care will decrease if the government oversees a national health plan, according to a new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey.
