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March 17, 2009

Predict Our Poll Results: Should AIG Executives Be Required to Give Government Money Back?

From March 17-18, 2009, we are asking adults for their opinions on the AIG bailout. We want you to predict how many people you think will say executives of AIG should be required to give the government back the bailout money.

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March 17, 2009

Comparing Approval Ratings From Different Polling Firms An Analysis By Scott Rasmussen

A number of polling firms routinely measure the president’s job approval ratings. Generally, they all show a similar trend even when the specific numbers are different.

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March 17, 2009

73% Say Cops Should Check Immigration Status During Traffic Stops

Seventy-three percent (73%) of U.S. voters believe that a police officer should automatically check to see if someone is in this country legally when the officer pulls that person over for a traffic violation. Only 21% disagree, according to a new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey.

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March 17, 2009

61% Say Secret Ballot Is Fair Way To Vote For A Union

Sixty-one percent (61%) of Americans say it is fair to require a vote by secret ballot if workers want to form a union. The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey found that just 18% say it is not fair to require a secret ballot.

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March 17, 2009

48% Will Wear Green on St. Patrick’s Day

Nearly one-out-of two-Americans (48%) plan to wear green today to celebrate St. Patrick's Day, according to a new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey.

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March 17, 2009

Obama on the Economy: Both Sides Now By Debra J. Saunders

How the tables have turned. In September 2008, when GOP presidential nominee John McCain said "the fundamentals of our economy are strong," unemployment was 6.1 percent, the credit crunch had yet to reach the point that prompted President George W. Bush to propose a bailout, and Team Obama proclaimed that an out-of-touch McCain "just doesn't get it" on the economy.

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March 17, 2009

Recession Has No Effect on Mid-Income Retirement Hopes

The recession has forced nearly two in five (39 percent) Americans to save less for their golden years, but it hasn't changed their perception about whether middle income families can save for retirement.

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March 17, 2009

GOP's Sliding Scale for Self-Discipline By Froma Harrop

In his essay "Why the GOP Can't Win With Minorities," conservative scholar Shelby Steele almost nails the half-question in the title. An African-American, Steele contrasts the "moral activism" of liberals with conservative calls for personal discipline.

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March 17, 2009

18% Say Economy Has Caused Bad Blood With Family or Friends

For some Americans, the current economic crisis is bad for more than business.

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March 16, 2009

53% Say U.S. Should Build More Nuclear Power Plants

Fifty-three percent (53%) of U.S. voters believe more nuclear power plants should be built in the United States, according to a new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey.

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March 16, 2009

51% Say U.S. and Allies Are Winning the War on Terror

Confidence in the War on Terror rose this month, with 51% of likely voters saying the U.S. and its allies are winning.

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March 16, 2009

79% Support U.S. Troops on the Border to Fight Drug Violence

Seventy-nine percent (79%) of U.S. voters now say the military should be used along the border with Mexico to protect American citizens if drug-related violence continues to grow in that area.

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March 16, 2009

Just 9% of Non-Union Workers Want to Join Union

Union members tend to believe that most workers want to join a labor union. The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey found that 47% of union members hold that view while only 18% disagree.

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March 15, 2009

Confidence Boosted by Obama’s Words, Democratic Investors Follow His Lead

Consumer and investor confidence increased dramatically over the past week after falling to record lows. On Sunday morning, March 15, the Rasmussen Consumer Index rose to the highest level since November 5, the morning after Barack Obama was elected president.

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March 15, 2009

The Drug War Body Count By Debra J. Saunders

"The war on drugs is a failure," Fernando Henrique Cardoso, Cesar Gaviria and Ernesto Zedillo -- the former presidents of Brazil, Colombia and Mexico -- wrote in the Wall Street Journal last month. "Prohibitionist policies based on eradication, interdiction and criminalization … simply haven't worked," they wrote.

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March 14, 2009

A Shotgun-Marriage Proposal By Lawrence Kudlow

Is it really necessary for taxpayers to spend another dime on the TARP? We’ve already committed $700 billion, half of which was spent under Pres. Bush and half of which is coming under Pres. Obama. And now, as we wait with baited breath for Treasury-man Tim Geithner’s detailed plan to purchase bank toxic assets, the TARP could rise by another $1 trillion or more.

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March 14, 2009

66% Say U.S. Should Stay in the United Nations

The head of the United Nations on Wednesday called the United States, which pays nearly one-fourth of the international organization’s $5-billion annual budget, a “deadbeat” because it doesn’t always get the check in on time.

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March 14, 2009

Criticism Shows Obama Is Losing Focus By Michael Barone

We've been hearing a lot of criticism of Barack Obama in recent days from pro-Obama corners -- from celebrity investor Warren Buffett, from moderate conservative columnist David Brooks, from one of the Democratic Party's deepest thinkers, William Galston -- all along the same lines.

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March 13, 2009

Governor’s Popularity Plummets in New York

The botched Caroline Kennedy-for-Senate affair? Proposing a slew of unpopular new taxes? These issues and more have prompted a 26-point dive in New York Governor David Paterson’s approval ratings over the last two months.