The “revolving door” is a standard feature in Washington, D.C., with people regularly going back and forth between government and private industry jobs. The practice raises conflict-of-interest questions but is generally quite legal. Voters, however, think it smacks of bribery.
Japan continues to deal with the aftermath of the devastating earthquake and tsunami in March that caused an historic-level nuclear disaster. With problems continuing at the Fukushima nuclear plant, Americans remain concerned about nuclear power plant safety at home but aren’t quite ready to phase out those plants just yet.
"The State Department is a fitting venue," declared Barack Obama at the beginning of his speech on the Middle East last Thursday.
Most voters still want to repeal the national health care law but are now evenly divided over the likelihood of the controversial measure actually being repealed.
Just eight percent (8%) of voters nationwide currently rate national security issues such as the War on Terror as their top voting issue. That’s down from 20% on Election Day 2008 when Barack Obama was elected and down from 41% on Election Day 2004 when George W. Bush was reelected.
Oprah Winfrey’s television talk show is coming to a close after a 25-year run, and the vast majority of Americans believe she’s been influential in shaping public opinion.
Shame on The New York Times. A housekeeper gets pregnant by the famous and powerful man for whom she works. For 10 years, she continues to work in the home and never says a word. After 20 years of service, she retires and buys a house 100 miles away to raise her son.
There was more muddle in the Middle East as the week came to a close.
Treaties signed over the years sometimes make strange bedfellows, and surprisingly one such regional treaty puts the United States in the position of helping Fidel Castro’s Cuba if it gets in a jam.
News of Arnold Schwarzenegger’s marital infidelity and the resulting love child appears to have made a serious dent in the returning movie star's audience base.
Most voters continue to believe that the federal government’s policies encourage illegal immigration but remain closely divided over whether it's better to let the federal government or individual states enforce immigration laws.
The nation got a preview of the Democrats' sweeping congressional election victories in 2010 when Democratic candidates pulled off victories in three close special House elections. The results were just the first of many for Democrats in the last cycle, when…
It is hard to see why anyone was surprised by Newt Gingrich's self-ignited implosion in the earliest hours of his presidential candidacy. The career of the former House speaker and Georgia congressman is practically bursting with proof that he suffers from chronic paranoid hysteria -- a condition that has done more to advance than diminish his status among conservatives.
Voters continue to believe strongly that a Middle East peace treaty must include an acknowledgement by Palestinians of Israel’s right to exist, but there’s very little confidence that there ever will be peace between Israelis and Arabs.
As the International Monetary Fund gets ready to choose a successor to Dominique Strauss-Kahn, who resigned following his arrest on charges that he sexually assaulted and raped a hotel housekeeper, it would be a good thing to step back for a moment and ask: What should the IMF do? More specifically, can the IMF possibly morph itself into a worldwide force for economic growth instead of Bailout Nation?
Voters aren’t convinced the U.S. border with Mexico is secure, and they still put that goal far ahead of legalizing illegal immigrants already in the country. A majority of voters also continue to favor a welcoming immigration policy.
President Obama leads seven long-shot Republican candidates in hypothetical 2012 matchups. But in a result consistent with polls involving the bigger GOP names, the president’s support stays in a very narrow range. In every matchup tested so far this year, the president’s support has stayed between 42% and 49%.
Most voters think the growing political unrest in the Arab world is putting Israel further at risk.
After two strong congressional cycles in 2006 and 2008, the Democrats were "shellacked" by Republicans in 2010. As the 2012 cycle approaches, uncertainty prevails for both parties: Each is trying to hold or expand its majority in one chamber while attempting to weaken and maybe topple the opposition in the other.
Just as busts follow booms, booms are supposed to follow busts. But there has been no boom, not even a boomlet, to light a candle in the gloom of the housing collapse. Many economists thought that a recovery from the real-estate meltdown that started in 2007 would be well on its way by 2011.
