If it's in the News, it's in our Polls. Public opinion polling since 2003.

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June 17, 2011

77% Say Two-Parent Home Very Important for Children

Americans almost universally agree that it’s better for children to grow up in a home with both their parents and feel strongly that such children have an edge over those whose parents are divorced.

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June 17, 2011

61% Oppose Online State Lottery Sales

Many cash-strapped states are considering selling lottery tickets online to boost revenue. Some like Minnesota and New Jersey have already begun the process. But most Americans nationwide aren’t keen on the idea, perhaps because many think online gambling shouldn’t be legal.

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June 17, 2011

Just 11% Say U.S. Should Be World’s Policeman

"Being the world's policeman" is a phrase often used to suggest America is the nation chiefly responsible for peace and the establishment of democracy in the rest of the world. But just 11% of Likely U.S. Voters think that should be America’s role.

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June 17, 2011

You Make Me Feel So Young By Susan Estrich

It was about six years ago that my old friend Anne and I were sitting around daydreaming, and I started talking about my "perfect" house: three bedrooms (I have two children), convenient to my son's school, a yard for the dogs and, oh, yes, a peek at the ocean. Then I mentioned my spending limit, and we both burst out laughing. Not possible. When we stopped laughing, Anne announced that her mother would find it for me.

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June 17, 2011

Washington's Deeper Immorality By Joe Conason

While the well-deserved departure of Anthony Weiner draws rapt attention in our tabloid nation, the depredations of less colorful but more powerful politicians go unnoticed, so long as no genitalia are involved.

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June 17, 2011

83% of GOP Voters Intend to Vote Republican No Matter Who’s The Nominee

Mitt Romney declared in Monday night’s debate that any one of the current Republican candidates would make a better president than Barack Obama, and GOP voters overwhelmingly agree with him. More emphatically, they intend to vote Republican even if their first choice doesn’t win the nomination.

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June 16, 2011

Economy, Health Care, Taxes Continue to Be Top Issues for Voters

The economy remains the number one issue on voters' minds, but the number who consider it Very Important has fallen to its lowest level since late 2007. The importance of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan also has dropped to record lows.

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June 16, 2011

46% Are Okay With Keeping U.S. Troops in Iraq Past End of Year

Nearly two-out-of-three voters believe it is unlikely all remaining U.S. troops in Iraq will be brought home by the end of the year, and if the Iraqi government asks for some of those troops to stay, a plurality feels we should comply. Voters have mixed feelings about what America has accomplished in Iraq, but most feel the country is better off without Saddam Hussein in power.

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June 16, 2011

45% of GOP Primary Voters Say It’s Bad for Party If Palin Enters Presidential Race

A plurality of Republican primary voters think it would be good for Texas Governor Rick Perry to jump into the party’s presidential race and bad for the party if former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin joined the field. They are evenly divided about former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani.

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June 16, 2011

The Right Question for the Defense Budget By Froma Harrop

"Can we afford the military budget?" Not quite the right question, but one being asked these days even in hawkish circles. It reflects a break in the Republicans' traditional reluctance to cut defense spending and a declining enthusiasm for changing other societies through force. The mix includes a re-emerged isolationist strain and new recognition that wars can no longer be charged on the national credit card.

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June 16, 2011

Romney, Bachmann, Cain Lead The Pack Among GOP Primary Voters

Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney continues to lead the race for the Republican nomination, but Michele Bachmann has surged into second place following her Monday night entry into the campaign.

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June 16, 2011

Romney in Front as Feisty Bachmann Gains on Pawlenty By Michael Barone

Barack Obama did not watch the Republican presidential candidates' debate in Manchester, N.H., on Monday night, we are told. He was busy addressing a campaign fundraising event in Miami.

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June 16, 2011

Feinstein vs. Coburn-Feinstein By Debra J. Saunders

On Tuesday, the Senate voted 40-59 against an amendment by Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., to end the annual $6 billion (45-cents-per-gallon) tax subsidy for ethanol, as well as the 54-cents-per-gallon tariff on imported ethanol.

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June 15, 2011

27% Say U.S. Heading in Right Direction

Twenty-seven percent (27%) of Likely U.S. Voters now say the country is heading in the right direction, according to a new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey taken the week ending Sunday, June 12.

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June 15, 2011

Americans Are Most Willing To Help Costa Rica, Dominican Republic On Latest List of Defense Partners

The United States has defense treaties with more than 50 nations, but Rasmussen Reports is finding that most Americans aren't willing to go to bat militarily for the majority of them. Out of the latest list of nine countries we've asked about, just Costa Rica and the Dominican Republic earn the support of a plurality of adults.

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June 15, 2011

46% Expect GM To Fully Repay Bailout, 44% Don't

While both General Motors and Chrysler have repaid sizable portions of their federal government bailouts, fewer than half of Americans now believe either automaker will fully repay taxpayers for the money they received.

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June 15, 2011

Support for State-Run Lotteries Is Declining

While state lotteries across the country scramble for ways to attract customers, Americans seem to be less enthusiastic about the government-run gambling operations.

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June 15, 2011

RomneyCare By Susan Estrich

I'm sorry, Mitt. I'm probably the last person in the world you'd want saying a nice word about you. Maybe you can trot this out in the general election. Maybe the likes of me will keep you from ever getting there.

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June 15, 2011

'Brother, Can You Spare a Regulation?' By Tony Blankley

Last week, in a much-discussed, open, live, televised forum, Jamie Dimon, the CEO of JPMorgan Chase, asked Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke the $64 trillion question. While most commentators focused on the apt question, it was Bernanke's answer that shocked me when I heard it -- and ought to shock the nation much more than it so far has.

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June 15, 2011

45% See Gap Between Governed and Those Who Govern As Comparable to American Revolution

A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 45% of Likely U.S. Voters agree with the following statement: The gap between Americans who want to govern themselves and politicians who want to rule over them is now as big as the gap between the American colonies and England during the 18th Century.