Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama has done a far more effective job than Republican John McCain in recent weeks moving himself to the middle in the minds of voters, according to the latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone surveys.
Immigration is said to be a divisive issue, but it really isn't. Large majorities of Americans favor legal immigration, and large majorities oppose illegal immigration.
Over half of Americans (56%) express a favorable view of the National Rifle Association, although only 17% of voters say they are more likely to vote for John McCain if he is endorsed by the pro-gun lobbying group.
More than two out of three Americans (68%) rate health care in this country as fair or poor, but a near identical number (69%) give good or excellent marks to their health insurance coverage and are very reluctant to change it.
Voters are evenly divided on whether women or African-Americans are more discriminated against today. A Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey found that 32% believe African-Americans face more discrimination and 31% believe women do. Thirty-eight percent (38%) are not sure.
A proposal to conserve energy by reducing the nationwide speed limit to 55 miles-per-hour is strongly opposed by the nation’s voters. Voters continue to prefer solutions that lead to finding more energy rather than relying upon conservation efforts. Majorities support both drilling for oil in both offshore wells and in the Alaskan National Wildlife Refuge.
When House Republican leaders left Washington for their Fourth of July break, they felt good about outwitting the Democratic majority. The feeling was not reciprocated 3,000 miles away, where conservative California Republican activists were drafting an ultimatum.
As we have noted many times, there is a disagreement within the polling industry as to whether or not polling firms should “weight” or adjust their sample to reflect a specific mix of Democrats, Republicans, and unaffiliated voters
Retired Gen. Wesley Clark, whose stock as Sen. Barack Obama's possible vice presidential running mate had been rising, may have ruined his chances with his belittling attack on Sen. John McCain's war record.
"They're going to try to make you afraid of me," Barack Obama told the audience at a Jacksonville fundraiser last month. "He's young and inexperienced and he's got a funny name. And did I mention he's black?" Obama was doing here by inference what many of his supporters do more explicitly.
Forty-two percent (42%) of American voters think the United States and its allies are winning the war on terror.
The economic news remained grim this week on both the employment and small business fronts with no end in sight to rising gas prices. But, going into the July 4 weekend, Americans were still feeling good about the United States and what it stands for.
Libertarian voters make up 4% of the nation’s likely voters and they favor Barack Obama over John McCain by a 53% to 38% margin.
As the nation celebrates its 232nd birthday, half of voters (50%) think America’s best days have come and gone. The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey found that just 32% think the country’s best days are still to come.
The nine august justices of the United States Supreme Court — or at least the five conservative Republicans — chose the wrong time to make a sea change in constitutional law, admitting the Second Amendment to our pantheon of civil liberties.
This Friday, 72% of adults plan on celebrating the 232nd birthday of the United States by watching fireworks. The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that a quarter of adults (24%) think it unlikely they will attend a fireworks show.
Eight out of 10 Americans (82%) say they would pick the United States if they had the choice of living anywhere in the world, but half that number (41%) do not believe this is a country with liberty and justice for all.
What are the politics of the housing meltdown? Foreclosure agony is undoubtedly a campaign issue, but the political question remains: What do the voters want their leader to do about it? Then there's the economic question: What can a president do about it -- other than ask taxpayers to bail out people who took on more debt than they could handle?
Even as both presidential candidates urge Americans to undertake more public service, over half of U.S. voters reject the idea that such duty is better than working in the private sector, according to a new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey. Only one out of six voters view work for the government as a higher calling.
In the early summer days of 1776, a group of men gathered in Philadelphia to craft a document that has become one of history’s great declarations of liberty. In an time and place where challenging the King was considered treason, the Continental Congress declared that the King had no right to claim authority over them.
