Fifty-one percent (51%) of Democrats polled in a new Rasmussen Reports telephone survey think Barack Obama should pick Hillary Rodham Clinton as his running mate, even as the former first lady and her surrogates push for a so-called Democratic "dream ticket."
Nearly four out of five Americans (78%) polled since Barack Obama clinched enough delegates to be the Democratic nominee say they could vote for an African-American for president, but they think only 61%of their family, friends and co-workers are willing to do the same.
The selection of a vice president is not only an exercise in political handicapping but also a national rite of statecraft. Candidates, advisers, pundits and assorted experts try to calculate the ethnic, geographic, gender and ideological characteristics of potential running mates, but what this choice actually reveals is the character of a presidential nominee.
A remarkable thing just happened in the people's party. Democrats have chosen a candidate, in the year 2008, who does not have a plan for universal health coverage.
Fed chairman Ben Bernanke made big news Tuesday by singling out the weak foreign-exchange value of the U.S. dollar as the principal culprit in "the unwelcome rise in import prices and consumer price inflation."
On Election Day 2004, with 9/11 still strong in the national memory and
the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq ominipresent, 41% said national security
was the most important issue determining their vote. By contrast, 26% rated
economic issues as the number one factor.
Forty-two percent (42%) of American voters believe the United States and its allies are winning the War on Terror, up three percent from last month which marked the first time the number had dropped below 40 percent since last fall.
Forty-five percent (45%) of likely voters agree with Democratic presidential contender Barack Obama that it's a good idea for the U.S. president to meet directly with the leader of Iran, but well over half (59%) think that talks should only take place after Iran stops developing nuclear weapons.
John McCain needs to go on the offensive against Barack Obama over the Iraq war. Polls tell us that his support for the Iraq invasion is one of voters' chief problems with McCain. Obama's chief credential, on the other hand, is his early, consistent opposition to the war.
The Discover U.S. Spending Monitor rose 1.4 points in May to 86.8 as consumers braced for higher spending in the wake of record gas and food prices. The Monitor posted record high percentages of consumers who said they spent more in May than April (56 percent) and who expect to spend more next month (46 percent), both up by six points respectively.
As I write this, the last voters in the last states in this seemingly endless primary process are heading to the polls, even as various news organizations have already announced that Barack Obama has reached the shifting magic number to claim a majority of the delegates.
The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey found that 59% of Americans want the troops brought home from Iraq within a year. That’s down three points from two weeks ago and is the lowest number calling for troops to come home since March.
As Election 2008 draws ever closer, it is hard to overstate the disconnect between the American people and their government.
With the hurricane season upon us, 42% expect there to be about the same number of hurricanes this year as there were a year ago.
The Democratic Party maintained its huge edge in party identification during the month of May. Barack Obama’s Party now has the largest partisan advantage over the Republicans since Rasmussen Reports began tracking this data on a monthly basis nearly six years ago.
For the first time since October, confidence in the labor markets increased during May. The Rasmussen Employment Index (formerly the Hudson Index) gained nearly two points in May to 84.6.
This month, the Democrats are trusted more than Republicans on eight out of ten electoral issues tracked regularly by Rasmussen Reports.
The woman who shouted "McCain in '08" at the Democratic rules committee was speaking for a multitude. After mounting for months, female anger over the choreographed dumping on Hillary Clinton and her supporters has exploded -- and party loyalty be damned.
Sixty-nine percent (69%) of Americans say that the price of gasoline has impacted their summer vacation plans.
In Scott McClellan's purported tell-all memoir of his trials as President George W. Bush's press secretary, he virtually ignores Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage's role leaking to me Valerie Plame's identity as a CIA employee.
