Just whom are we trying to impress?
That's a question that occurred to me when, on his second full day in the presidency, Barack Obama announced we would close the Guantanamo detainee facility within one year.
Both Republican hopefuls hold a double-digit lead over their likeliest Democratic opponent, Congressman Kendrick Meek, in the latest Rasmussen Reports survey of this year’s race for the U.S. Senate in Florida.
Sixty-five percent (65%) of voters nationwide now hold populist, or Mainstream, views of government. That’s up from 62% last September and 55% last March.
It was bad enough last month watching Washington politicians merrily flying off to the U.N. climate change Conference of Parties in Copenhagen (or COP-15 for short), ostensibly to draft a global warming treaty, when all the players knew that no meaningful pact would result and that the only sure outcome was that much energy would be squandered.
Just 19% of voters nationwide believe that President Obama achieved most of his goals during his first year in office. A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 70% hold the opposite view and say he did not accomplish those goals.
I don't get it.
Since 1993, more than 13,000 soldiers have been discharged from the military under the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" (DADT) policy. Countless others are effectively denied access to mental health and other services because they can't tell.
During his State-of-the-Union address Wednesday night, President Obama spoke about a deficit of trust between the American people and political leaders. New Rasmussen Reports polling on the president’s speech shows just how deep that trust deficit has become.
Is it really over?
It all looked so easy in August 2008, when Sen. Barack Obama spoke before the Democratic National Convention in Denver. The Democrats were going to win in November, storm Washington with their reforming ways, and because they were so much smarter than everyone else, they'd know how to get the American economy cooking. There was no doubt as the enthusiastic Invesco Field throng cheered and chanted, "Yes, we can."
Fifty-three percent (53%) of likely voters now believe that decreasing the level of government spending will help the U.S. economy. A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that just 24% of voters think that cutting federal spending will hurt the economy. Eleven percent (11%) say it will have no impact, and another 11% aren’t sure.
A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey shows that 66% of Americans believe leaving their job will be their choice. That’s up a point since November and up five points from a year ago. Just 16% say their employer will decide when it’s time for them to go.
Thirty-eight percent (38%) of voters say the United States and its allies are winning the war on terror. That’s the third time in four Rasmussen Reports tracking surveys that confidence has been below 40%. Numbers that bleak haven’t been recorded in consecutive surveys since the middle of 2007.
Barack Obama’s “Panic Week” has come and gone, but did his White House learn anything from the historic repudiation of his leftist agenda? Putting the question another way, has Obama made the necessary course corrections or is he still refusing to hear the message that America is sending him so loudly and clearly?
I’ll admit it. I love populism. In my youth I was always drawn to populist candidates. For over eight months I’ve been predicting that 2010 would be the Year of the Populist, and this prediction has come true. Populism is the only approach that makes sense in this angry, miserable time full of resentful voters. A sincere populist identifies with, and advocates for, the needs of ordinary powerless people, who believe they are being screwed by big, impersonal institutions and elites.
The race to replace Charlie Crist as governor of Florida still leans Republican with little movement in either direction.
The first Rasmussen Reports Election 2010 telephone survey of the Wisconsin governor's race finds the two most prominent Republican contenders both ahead of their likeliest Democratic opponent, Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett.
Is there a patriot in the house? Is there anyone in Washington who regards governing as a means to accomplish anything other than win the sterile game of Democrat versus Republican? Every day, American soldiers risk their lives for their country, but people in Congress won't even risk their jobs to pass legislation essential to the nation's economic future.
Republican Congressman Mark Kirk is well ahead of his closest challenger in the race for the Republican Senate nomination in Illinois. GOP voters will pick their candidate on Tuesday.
Illinois Democrats will chose their Senate nominee on Tuesday, and State Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias holds the lead going into the final weekend. But one-out-of four likely primary voters remain undecided.
The number of voters who give Congress a poor job performance rating is now at its highest level in more than three years. More voters also think most members of Congress are corrupt.
