Most Americans still believe government workers work less and make more money than those employed by private companies. Yet while the majority also thinks government workers enjoy more job security, they’re less convinced of that than they were a year ago.
I had the honor of speaking last weekend at the Faith and Freedom Conference, at which most of the candidates for the Republican presidential nomination were the star attractions. The conference, led by Ralph Reed, brought together the nation's leading (what is called) social conservatives.
Most voters still believe President Obama is more liberal than they are, while just one-out-of-four say they share the same ideological views as the president.
For the second week in a row, a generic Republican candidate edges President Obama 45% to 42% among Likely U.S. Voters in a hypothetical 2012 election matchup, according to a new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey.
Just days after the government's announcement that unemployment has risen to 9.1%, short- and long-term confidence in the U.S. economy are at the lowest levels of the Obama presidency.
Voters remain more conservative when it comes to money than they are on social policy, but 29% still say they are conservative in both areas.
For the first time, voters feel the agenda of congressional Republicans is nearly as extreme as that of Democrats in Congress.
It's no secret that state and local governments are hard up for money. Even with the economy improving somewhat and tax revenues increasing, most American states right now are facing budget shortfalls.
A New York Democrat has joined what had been a largely Republican caucus of congressmen committing sexually inappropriate online behavior. A picture of Rep. Anthony Weiner's crotch (in underwear) appeared on a Twitter stream sent to a Seattle college student. At first, Weiner said that the photo might not be him and insisted he didn't send it. "My system was hacked," he complained.
Most voters agree that Barack Obama is qualified to be president, but nearly as many don’t think Vice President Joe Biden is qualified to take his place.
As a U.S. senator, John Edwards, a staunch defender of the McCain-Feingold campaign finance reform bill, decried "a system in which huge amounts of money (continue to) flow unregulated into the campaign process and ordinary people feel as if their vote makes no difference anymore."
Republicans hold a six-point lead over Democrats on the Generic Congressional Ballot for the week ending Sunday, June 5.
Voters remain narrowly divided over how much the government should get involved in trying to turn around the U.S. economy.
Mitt Romney is the only Republican 2012 hopeful that a sizable number of voters considers qualified to be president. Sarah Palin is the one they view as least qualified, but, at this early stage, many voters are still in the dark about all the possible candidates.
Voters continue to favor repeal of the national health care law passed last year and believe the legislation will increase the federal deficit.
Last week, I noted that various forms of the word "unexpected" almost inevitably appeared in news stories about unfavorable economic developments. You can find them again in stories about Friday's shocking news, that only 54,000 net new jobs were created in the month of May and that unemployment rose to 9.1 percent.
One-out-of-three Americans think it’s good for the U.S. economy if the government puts more people on the payroll, but most adults still don’t see government as the solution to long-term unemployment.
On Sept. 11, 2001, when two planes plunged into the World Trade Center, Americans watched in awe as New York firefighters, police and paramedics rushed to the scene at risk to their own lives. Some 343 firefighters and paramedics and 60 police officers paid the ultimate price in their desperate rush to save other lives.
The current puppet play in Congress -- where Republicans sponsored a bill to raise the nation's debt ceiling only because they wanted to vote it down -- would be funny, if only they weren't risking economic disaster. Unfortunately they're not joking, as they push the country closer and closer to a potentially ruinous default.
While she's much less often in the news these days, former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi remains Congress' most disliked leader. But Pelosi earns higher favorables than Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid whose popularity has fallen to its lowest level in over two years.
