After falling in December, confidence among small business owners rebounded in January as more see the economy and economic conditions for their businesses improving, according to the Discover(R) Small Business Watch(SM). The monthly index rose to 91.0 this month, up 9.4 points from December 2010 and 5.5 points higher than one year ago, the highest the index has been since December 2007 when it stood at 92.7.
Republicans hold a seven-point lead over Democrats on the Generic Congressional Ballot for the week ending January 30, 2011.
Most Republican Primary voters are looking for experience in both the private sector and government in a potential presidential candidate. Private sector experience carries a bit more weight. They are also looking for someone who shares their views rather than simply picking someone who is electable.
For many Americans, the national color-coded terror alert system had become little more than a joke, so it's not surprising that a majority of voters agree with the Department of Homeland Security’s decision to abandon that system in favor of more specific warnings. A plurality also approves of the department’s reported interest in focusing more security on rail, ships and mass transit.
Most voters continue to favor repeal of the national health care law, but now that the Republican-run House has voted to repeal and sent it on to the Democratic-controlled Senate for action, confidence that the law ultimately will be repealed has fallen to its lowest level in four months.
Most Americans expect the unrest in Egypt to spread to other Middle Eastern countries and think that will be bad for the United States. But a sizable majority also believe the United States should keep its nose out of Egypt’s current problems.
Numbers can tell a story. Looking back on Barack Obama's second State of the Union message, and looking forward to the congressional session and the 2012 elections, they tell a story that should leave Democrats uneasy.
Four times this month, the U.S. Supreme Court has slapped down the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. Four times the Big Bench unanimously reversed Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals decisions. Unanimous is a big deal. It means that there's no left-right political divide in the Big Bench's findings -- just right on the law and wrong on the law.
Nearly half of the Republican Primary voters who support Sarah Palin say they are at least somewhat likely to vote for a third-party candidate if she does not win the GOP presidential nomination.
Americans are having a little more fun behind the wheel these days.
Most Americans seldom, if ever, darken the door of a movie theater these days, but plenty of them are watching movies at home.
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As we know, massive popular unrest has broken out against autocratic governments in North Africa and the Arab world. Egypt is the biggest story. But to varying degrees, the people have taken to the streets in Algeria, Jordan, Libya, Morocco, and Yemen.
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie expressed disappointment in President Obama’s failure to commit to aggressive budget cuts and entitlement reform in last night’s State of the Union speech.
In his State of the Union speech this week, President Obama refrained from using the term “government spending,” calling it "investment" instead, and made sure to highlight his support for extending the Bush tax cuts. Most voters continue to feel that cutting taxes and reducing government spending are best for the economy.
The overwhelming majority of Americans continue to know someone who is out of work and looking for a job, but the number who believe unemployment will be higher one year from now is at its lowest level in over a year. Confidence in the current job market also has reached a recent high.
Despite talk from congressional Republicans and President Obama’s State of the Union comments about debt reduction, most voters still think Congress is unlikely to make major spending cuts in the near future.
Every year, UCLA's Higher Education Research Center does a national study of college freshmen, some 200,000 in all. This year, the big news is emotional health -- or lack thereof. Nearly half of the students surveyed -- and more than half of the young women -- ranked their emotional health as "below average," the highest numbers since the survey began 25 years ago.
A few years ago, baby boomers needed 3-D glasses to take in the gorgeous vision of their decades to come. Books and articles foresaw baby boomers skipping off into a "Second Adolescence" of self-fulfillment. No longer chained to the 9-to-5 and still healthy, the newly "retired" would follow their muse. The future was theirs, despite all that gray hair (or gray roots).
While a number of states now face serious budget shortfalls, most voters continue to oppose federal bailout funding to help them out.?
