The execution of Troy Davis last week for murdering a Georgia policeman prompted controversy here and abroad, but it did little to shift opinions on the death penalty. Still, a sizable majority of Americans worries that people may be executed for crimes they didn't commit.
Republicans hold just a two-point advantage over Democrats on the Generic Congressional Ballot for the week ending Sunday, September 25. That is the highest level of support for Democrats in nearly three months and ties the narrowest margin between the two parties in the last two years.
Rasmussen Reports periodically asks Likely U.S. Voters to rate political labels, and the latest national telephone survey finds that 39% consider it a positive when a political candidate is described as being “pro-gun.”
While Texas Governor Rick Perry has been widely criticized for his debate performance last Thursday in Florida, that criticism doesn't seem to have moved the numbers in a hypothetical Election 2012 matchup with President Obama. The president still holds a single-digit lead over the frontrunner in the GOP primary race.
The questionable financial dealings of solar panel manufacturer Solyndra and its ties to the Obama administration are drawing little public attention so far, but most voters agree government help is not the best way to develop alternative energy sources.
The Republicans' presidential debate Thursday night sponsored by Fox News and Google gave primary voters and caucus-goers at least one good reason to reject every candidate on the stage. The interesting question now is whether someone else will enter the race -- at just about the same point in the election cycle in which Bill Clinton entered the Democratic race in 1991.
Regardless of their views on the content of any major deficit reduction plan, voters do not expect any significant reduction in federal government spending before next year’s election.
More than a third of voters believe the U.S. legal system worries too much about individual rights when it comes to public safety, but fewer believe it puts those rights over protecting national security.
For many Americans, their home is their primary investment in the future. Concern remains at record levels that that investment is at risk, and the sour economy continues to play heavily on next year’s race for the White House.
Most Americans still don’t believe the government should help those who can’t afford to make their mortgage payments.
With less than a week to go before the end of the 2011 regular season, the Philadelphia Phillies are the odds-on favorite to win this year’s World Series.
Minnesota Congresswoman Michele Bachmann continues to fade in the latest hypothetical 2012 matchup with President Obama.
Fifty percent (50%) of Americans think President Obama and Congress should consider a mix of spending cuts and tax increases in looking for ways to cut the federal deficit, but nearly two-out-of-three adults (64%) are unwilling to pay higher taxes themselves to reduce that deficit.
Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney is the runaway leader in the race for the 2012 Republican nomination in New Hampshire, home of next year’s first presidential primary.
Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney is the runaway leader in the race for the 2012 Republican nomination in New Hampshire, home of next year’s first presidential primary.
While voters continue to give the U.S. Supreme Court’s job performance lukewarm reviews, they are a bit less likely to say the justices are too politically liberal.
The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey of Likely Voters shows that 33% say the Supreme Court is doing a good or excellent job, with only three percent (3%) who give the high court an excellent grade. Nineteen percent (19%) give the Supreme Court a poor rating. (To see survey question wording, click here.)
Positive ratings for the high court are only slightly below results found in June, but are just three points above the all-time low of 30% measured in late March. The court's good/excellent ratings have generally run in the mid-to upper 30s in surveying since November 2006.
Now, 30% of voters believe the Supreme Court is too politically liberal, down just a point from June but the lowest finding since the question was first posed in July 2009. Twenty-seven percent (27%) believe the high court is too politically conservative, which ties the highest level in two years. Another 27% say the court’s ideology is about right, a finding that has ranged from 27% to 42%. Fifteen percent (15%) more are undecided.
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The national survey of 1,000 Likely Voters was conducted on September 20-21, 2011 by Rasmussen Reports. The margin of sampling error is +/- 3 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence. Field work for all Rasmussen Reports surveys is conducted by Pulse Opinion Research, LLC. See methodology.
More than 80% of likely Republican Primary voters say it is likely Texas Governor Rick Perry and former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney are likely to beat President Obama in the general election, but they are less confident about Minnesota Congresswoman Michele Bachmann and Texas Congressman Ron Paul doing the same.
While many voters nationwide oppose President Obama’s new deficit reduction plan, most support raising taxes on the wealthy.
As Barack Obama huffs and puffs about his tax plan, which is unlikely to pass in the Democratic-majority Senate much less the Republican-controlled House, Robert Zoellick, president of the World Bank, has provided a much broader view of where the United States stands amid great changes in the world and some useful guidance on what direction public policy ought to take.
Anyone who has seen a friend kick an addiction -- be it to alcohol, drugs or cigarettes -- knows the extreme discomfort and force of will required. America has long suffered repeated bouts of binging on real estate. The booms inevitably trigger busts, one of which we're now in deep.
