What They Told Us: Reviewing Last Week’s Key Polls: Week Ending April 24, 2009
Nearly 100 days into Barack Obama’s presidency, Americans are making a distinction between the man and his policies.
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April 25, 2009
April 25, 2009
The Left's Angry Mob Recalls Madame Defarge By Michael Barone
It's tough trying to please people who crave vengeance almost as much as Madame Defarge, the unsparing French revolutionary in Dickens' "Tale of Two Cities."
April 25, 2009
58% Oppose Further Investigation of U.S. Torture Allegations
President Obama and Senate Democratic leaders are opposed to more investigations of how the Bush administration treated terrorism suspects, and 58% of U.S. voters agree with them.
April 24, 2009
Michigan Voters Say Auto Bailouts Good, Bank Bailouts Bad
Like most Americans, voters in Michigan take a dim view of federal bailouts for banks and financial companies. Just 30% think they’re a good idea while 50% disagree, according to a new Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of voters in the state.
April 24, 2009
Republicans Give Romney Edge Over Gingrich
Both men reportedly have their eyes on the Republican presidential nomination in 2012, but right now Mitt Romney, who ran unsuccessfully last year, has the edge over former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, one of the GOP’s most formidable strategists.
April 24, 2009
Predict Which Film Will Have the Highest Box Office Opening This Summer
It's summer movie time! Moviegoers are getting excited about some of this season's action-packed releases. Rasmussen Reports would like you to predict which movie will have the highest box office opening this summer.
April 24, 2009
Hounded and Stressed, but Not by Technology By Froma Harrop
Consider Cary Grant in "North by Northwest." Sinister forces may be chasing him for reasons he can't comprehend, but this is 1959, and neither the BlackBerry nor the Global Positioning System chip that goes inside it has been invented. And so the mysterious crop-duster has no way to pinpoint which cornstalks he's hiding under. The truck Grant steals also lacks a GPS that could help enemies foil his getaway.
April 24, 2009
53% Say Next President Likely To Be A Republican
For the first time since Barack Obama was elected president last November, more than half of U.S. voters (53%) say it is at least somewhat likely that the next occupant of the White House will be a Republican. Thirty-one percent (31%) say it is Very Likely.
April 24, 2009
I Had a Dream By Susan Estrich
Her name is Susan Boyle. If you haven't heard of her, you need to listen to her. Consider it my gift to you. Go to YouTube, along with the tens of millions of others who already have, and listen to the voice of an angel -- a plump, unemployed, 47-year-old "spinster" (as she was described by more than one British newspaper) who lives with her cat.
April 24, 2009
Pennsylvania Senate Primary: Toomey 51% Specter 30%
Incumbent Senator Arlen Specter trails former Congressman Pat Toomey by 21 points in an early look at Pennsylvania’s 2010 Republican Primary. Fifty-one percent (51%) of Republican voters statewide say they’d vote for Toomey while just 30% would support Specter.
April 24, 2009
Los Angeles or Waterboarding? By Debra J. Saunders
After 9/11, Americans wanted one thing from Washington: to prevent future terrorist attacks. President George W. Bush, the CIA and other hard-working officials delivered. For their trouble, a handful of those individuals now have reason to fear that they may be ruined.
April 24, 2009
Predict Who Will Be the Next Contestant Eliminated from American Idol
With Rounds and Desai now out of the pictures, only five contestants remain on 'American Idol': Matt Giraud, Kris Allen, Adam Lambert, Allison Iraheta and Danny Gokey. Rasmussen Reports would like you to predict which contestant will be the next person to be eliminated from the show on April 29, 2009.
April 23, 2009
70% Say Big Government and Big Business On the Same Team
Earlier this week, Gallup released new data showing that most Americans still view big government as a more serious threat to the nation than big business or big labor. The results weren’t terribly surprising since Gallup has asked the question periodically since 1965 and government has always been seen as the biggest threat.
April 23, 2009
45% View Homeland Security’s Napolitano Unfavorably
Forty-five percent (45%) of U.S. voters now have an unfavorable opinion of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano following her department’s release of a controversial report on right-wing extremist groups last week. Twenty-three percent (23%) say their view of her is Very Unfavorable.
April 23, 2009
29% Correctly Predicted Rounds, Desai Would Be Eliminated from ‘Idol’
Twenty-nine percent (29%) correctly predicted that Lil Rounds and Anoop Desai would be the next contestants eliminated from "American Idol."
April 23, 2009
58% Say Release of CIA Memos Endangers National Security
Fifty-eight percent (58%) believe the Obama administration’s recent release of CIA memos about the harsh interrogation methods used on terrorism suspects endangers the national security of the United States. The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey found that 28%belive the release of the memos helps America’s image abroad.
April 23, 2009
Obama Lets Congress -- and Lobbyists -- Do the Work By Michael Barone
The balance between the executive and legislative branches in writing laws has changed over the centuries. In the 19th century, Sen. Stephen Douglas wrote the Kansas-Nebraska Act, with President Franklin Pierce just an interested bystander.
April 23, 2009
Reagan (and Nixon) Greeted Despots, Too By Joe Conason
Few aspects of American politics are as ridiculous and dangerous as the right-wing urge to substitute macho posturing for foreign policy. That irrepressible habit surfaces constantly now that President Obama is in the Oval Office, most recently when he shook hands with Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez at the Summit of the Americas, a smiling moment that provoked calls for impeachment among the most deranged conservatives.
April 23, 2009
44% Expect To Have Same Employer Five Years From Now
Less than half the nation’s workers (44%) expect to have the same employer five years from now.
April 23, 2009
The Death of Democratic Capitalism? By Lawrence Kudlow
How far will the Obama administration move to assert regulatory control over key sectors of the economy? Are we moving away from democratic capitalism and toward some sort of corporatist state-directed economy? That could be the biggest stock market and economic-growth issue facing us today.
