Hillary Clinton finally has an official opponent for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2016.
Longtime Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont, a self-proclaimed socialist, is jumping into the race. Sanders earned just seven percent (7%) support among Likely Democratic Voters when we asked in early March, but that was before the politicking began. We’ll test Sanders with voters nationwide early next week.
Republicans hold a two-point lead on the latest Generic Congressional Ballot.
A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey for the week ending April 30 finds that 40% of Likely U.S. Voters would vote for the Republican candidate in their district's congressional race if the election were held today, while 38% would choose the Democrat instead. Twenty-three percent (23%) prefer a third-party candidate or are undecided.
When tracking President Obama’s job approval on a daily basis, people sometimes get so caught up in the day-to-day fluctuations that they miss the bigger picture. To look at the longer-term trends, Rasmussen Reports compiles the numbers on a full-month basis, and the results can be seen in the graphics below.
Hillary Clinton this week joined the chorus of Democrats and Republicans calling for ways to reduce the number of Americans in prison, and voters still tend to be cautiously supportive of that overall goal.
Concern about national security was mostly in the low- to mid-teens from November 2008 through 2010. This concern began trending down slightly in 2010 and dropped to the low single-digits after the killing of Osama bin Laden in May 2011. It did not reach double-digits again until mid-2013.
Next week, Britain votes in its first general election in five years. Some aspects of its politics will be familiar to Americans. Polls show voters are dissatisfied with politicians of both parties, cynical about whether they will keep their promises and closely divided between two major parties, which have been in existence for more than 100 years.
One-in-five Americans are responding to the devastating earthquake in Nepal with money from their pocket, and most think the spread of social media helps in situations like this.
They've all been reelected several times, but the four top congressional leaders remain an unpopular choice among voters nationwide.
As Obama administration officials wrestle with the news media and congressional investigators over releasing Hillary Clinton’s e-mail from her days as secretary of State, voters are growing more suspicious that Clinton has something to hide.
Americans view the recent rioting in Baltimore as criminal behavior, not legitimate protest, and think it will only worsen the criminal justice situation in the city.
Using the most bloodless terms, an economist explained the failure or inability of so many African-Americans to rise from their impoverished circumstances. They do not respond to the economic incentives that push others to study and strive, he said.
For Republicans looking ahead to 2016, Florida is the pivotal state in the Electoral College. Naturally, we can’t know exactly what will happen a year and a half from now, but from our current vantage point, it appears very likely that the GOP must win the state to have a shot at winning 270 or more electoral votes and control of the White House.
Given the state’s importance, particularly to the Republicans, it seems appropriate that the top two contenders for the party’s presidential nomination in the Crystal Ball’s rankings now hail from the Sunshine State.
Voters continue to doubt they’ll receive all their promised Medicare benefits, but they're less willing to raise the eligibility age to keep the program afloat.
Like his daily job approval ratings, voter reviews of President Obama's handling of the economy and national security have generally changed very little during his years in the White House.
Just over half of voters do not trust Hillary Clinton, but even more think she used her position as secretary of State to benefit some of those who gave money to her Clinton Foundation.
I took a camera to Times Square this week and asked people, "What creates jobs?" Most had no answer.
Most voters still consider America an equitable place to live and feel strongly that newcomers to this country should adopt our way of life.
Americans are conflicted on free trade. Most think the government doesn’t do enough to protect U.S. businesses, but at the same time they think those businesses will do better against foreign competitors with a wide-open market.
Like spring, bipartisanship is busting out all over. Even more so maybe: Washington in a time of alleged global warming is suffering through a chilly, wet springtime, but bipartisanship is sprouting up like gangbusters.
Newt Gingrich recently recalled the bipartisan deal that doubled the budget for the National Institutes of Health -- with fondness. This was about 20 years ago, when Bill Clinton was president, and Republicans under Gingrich had just taken over Congress.
Never a member of the Gingrich fan club, I nonetheless join other liberal-minded observers in hailing the former House speaker not only for not disowning that investment in national greatness but for urging an encore. Gingrich, bless his black little heart, wants the budget doubled again.
