Most Americans like the idea of providing tax credits for first-time home buyers but are less enthusiastic when the price tag is included. They strongly oppose expanding it to existing homeowners, although Congress did just that this week.
Everything and nothing happened on Tuesday. I could have predicted that. Whoever "wins" says it means everything. Whoever "loses" says it means nothing. That's how off-off-year elections work. History supports both sides.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations sent out its usual roundup Tuesday of news stories alleging the mistreatment of Muslims in America. There was a story critical of the FBI harassment of Muslims in Queens, N.Y., in the wake of the arrest of a suspected terrorist. Another story concerned calls for an investigation into an FBI shooting that left Detroit Imam Luqman Ameen Abdullah dead. There were also notices of CAIR banquets.
Fifty-five percent (55%) of U.S. voters expect politics in Washington, D.C. to become more partisan over the next year, according to the latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey.
As the final votes were being counted, it was possible to draw some lessons from Republican Bob McDonnell's victory in Virginia and the close, three-way governor's race in New Jersey, never mind that White House press secretary Robert Gibbs has taken to saying that the elections don't mean much.
Some National Guardsmen returning home from Iraq and Afghanistan are finding that their civilian jobs have been eliminated by companies forced by the economy to make deep budget cuts.
Forty-nine percent (49%) of U.S. voters now say it is at least somewhat likely that Republicans will win control of Congress next year. But only 18% say it is very likely.
When Newt Gingrich warned Republicans that they were making a grave "mistake" by driving out moderates and enforcing the angry orthodoxy of the far right, the sober tone of his remarks was stunning.
Against the backdrop of high unemployment and a public revolt against a Democratic health-care bill -- which would significantly increase taxes, slash Medicare spending, and massively raise health-care spending elsewhere in a government takeover of our leading growth sector -- the Republicans swept the Virginia and New Jersey gubernatorial races.
Seventy-two percent (72%) of voters nationwide say passage of the proposed health care plan could lead companies to drop private health insurance coverage for their employees. Forty-eight percent (48%) say it's very likely.
Fifty-two percent (52%) of voters feel that America’s best days are in the past, according to the latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey. This marks the highest level of voter pessimism in two years and is up 13 points from a year ago when Barack Obama was elected president.
The Tea Party wing of the Republican Party had the perfect strategy for upstate New York's 23rd congressional district:
Thirty-four percent (34%) of voters now say the United States is heading in the right direction, according to the latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey.
On the heels of Ford’s better-than-expected third quarter profits and its promise of solid profitability by 2011, 68% of Americans adults hold a favorable opinion of the one company that passed on a government bailout. Ford continues to far outdistance public perceptions of General Motors and Chrysler.
Voters are now almost evenly divided over whether passage of the health care reform plan proposed by President Obama and congressional Democrats will force them to change their existing health care coverage.
One year ago today, Senator Barack Obama became President-elect Obama. He and his team had run nearly a flawless campaign and were about to embark on what turned out to be a nearly flawless transition effort. By Inauguration Day, the man who had won 53% of the vote saw his overall job approval rating soar to 65%.
There's an old story about a Harvard professor who gets a call from the president (of the United States) and responds that his president is the president of Harvard.
Not so long ago, there was a furious fight among different tribes in the White House, CIA and State and Defense departments over the correct war-fighting strategy. The coin of the realm back then was intelligence. Intelligence that pointed in the right policy direction was cherry-picked and shown to the public; covert players connected to undesirable conclusions were outed or disparaged. This fight for the hearts and minds of Washington opinion shapers was fought out on the battlefields of The Washington Post and The New York Times -- and from them to the networks and news outlets across the country and around the world.
In the United States today, workers expect to change jobs on a regular basis. The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that just, 37% of working Americans expect to be working for the same employer in five years.
Republican congressional candidates hold on to a four-point lead over Democrats this week in the latest Generic Congressional Ballot.
