Beyond the front-page political debate and the falling stock market, Rasmussen Reports this past week got further evidence of how far-reaching the country’s economic problems have become.
Edward C. Johnson III, chairman of Fidelity Investments, said recently of government efforts to jump-start the economy, “We can only hope that the government’s cure doesn’t further sicken the patient.”
Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty may not have ruled out running for president in 2012, but most Minnesota voters already have.
Forty-one percent (41%) of voters nationwide have a favorable opinion of the $3.6-trillion budget proposed by President Obama in the latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey.
George Lakoff, a professor at the University of California at Berkeley, recently stated that “the moral mission of government is simple: no one can earn a living in America or live an American life without protection and empowerment by the government.”
Forty-seven percent (47%) of Minnesota voters now believe Democrat Al Franken has been elected to the U.S. Senate in a race so close that it’s been working its way through the state’s court system for the last four months.
Seventy-five percent (75%) of Americans believe the U.S. Constitution guarantees the right of an average citizen to own a gun, according to a new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey.
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.
The plurality of Texas voters (47%) support Governor Rick Perry’s opposition to accepting the state’s $17 billion share of the national economic stimulus package.
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.
Forty-three percent (43%) of Americans say it is Very Likely that the Obama Administration will try to implement stricter gun control laws even though 47% see no need for such laws.
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.
President Obama told the nation last week that health care reform is one of the top three priorities of his administration, but 49% of U.S. voters say the president should wait until the economy improves before moving forward on the health care front.
President Obama this week continued his effort to spend the country out of recession with his first speech to Congress outlining where he wants to go and his first budget showing how he plans to pay for it.
President Barack Obama laid out three major – and costly - policy goals in his Tuesday night speech to the nation – health care reform, development of new sources of energy and ensuring that every child has “a complete and competitive education.” He also repeated his pledge to cut the federal deficit in half in four years.
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.
Former President Clinton last week gave fellow Democrat Barack Obama top marks for his handling of the economy but said the new chief executive needs to be more optimistic when talking publicly about economic issues. Forty-six percent (46%) of U.S. voters agree, saying President Obama should speak more positively about the economy.
