Afghanistan used to be a great issue for Barack Obama. As a candidate, he repeatedly argued that George W. Bush and his Defense Department had lost their way, focusing too much attention (and troops and resources) on Iraq while shortchanging the more important mission in Afghanistan.
DELAWARE- SENATE: Republicans got just the break they were hoping for in the Delaware Senate race. Republican Rep. Mike Castle will run, challenging the Vice President's son, Delaware Attorney General Beau Biden (D). Biden would have defeated any other Republican, but Castle is leading Biden in early polls. The Vice President has great sway, but the dynasty issue helps Castle.
Team Obama is in economic trouble on two fronts right now: The dollar could be headed toward its demise, while the jobs and unemployment numbers have gotten worse. (The unemployment rate is up to 9.8 percent as of the September report released last week.) And there's a simple policy mix the White House could adopt to fix this. It could enact the Mundell-Laffer supply-side approach of a steady King Dollar for price stability and low marginal tax rates to spur jobs and economic growth.
Most members of the Senate Finance Committee were relieved this week to find that their health care reform plan will cost under $900 billion over the next 10 years and is actually projected to bring the federal deficit down by $81 billion.
Just 60% of U.S. voters now say that American society is generally fair and decent, according to a new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey.
Some in Congress are considering a second stimulus plan to fight the country’s growing unemployment problem, but 62% of U.S. voters oppose the passage of another economic stimulus package this year.
With the off-year midterms just a year away, the Crystal Ball will focus on the statehouses. It gets us out of Washington and away from Congress--and that is refreshing in itself.
The latest signals from the White House suggest that President Obama now realizes he must do more -- and quickly -- to ease the economic suffering of working families. He knows that most Americans believe his administration and Congress have so far provided more help to major banks and Wall Street investment firms than to workers and small companies, as a survey released by pollster Peter Hart reported recently.
In terms of health coverage, one date separates the most secure Americans from the least secure: a person's 65th birthday. Age 65 is when one qualifies for Medicare, the government insurance program for the elderly and disabled. It's become a source of intergenerational strife -- not so much between the old and young as between the old and the nearly old.
October is Breast Cancer Awareness month, and 23% of adults plan to donate money toward breast cancer research this month, according to a new Rasmussen Reports survey.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi floated the idea of a national sales tax in a recent television interview, but a new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey shows that 67% oppose a national sales tax on all goods and services.
Personal blogsites are becoming increasingly more common on the Internet, but just 11% of Americans believe that the government should regulate their content.
Senator David Vitter holds a 10-percentage-point lead over Democrat Charlie Melancon in an early look at Louisiana’s 2010 General Election. The first Rasmussen Reports Election 2010 survey in the state finds the first-term Republican incumbent with 46% of the vote while Melancon attracts 36%.
The health care reform plan working its way through the U.S. Senate now includes a proposal that requires young and healthy Americans to either buy health insurance or pay a $750 annual penalty for not having it.
Al-Qaida is becoming the weapons of mass destruction of the Obama administration's war in Afghanistan. Or, to be more precise, it is a reverse WMD. For the George W. Bush administration, the likely presence of WMD in Iraq was a major justification for going to war. For Vice President Joe Biden and some senior Obama White House staff members (we do not know the position of the president yet), the alleged weakness and ineffectiveness of al-Qaida is sufficient justification for ending our major ground troop presence in Afghanistan.
Text messaging is one of the most widely used means of communication, especially among young people. But 91% of adults say people should not be allowed to text message on a cell phone while driving.
Republican congressional candidates have moved slightly further ahead of Democrats this week in the latest edition of the Generic Congressional Ballot
With less than a month to go until Election Day, one-third (33%) of New Jersey’s likely voters are either undecided or say they could change their minds about how they will vote for governor.
For the second straight week, just 33% of likely voters say the United States is heading in the right direction, according to the latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey.
Thirty-five percent (35%) of U.S. voters now believe that America’s relationship with the Muslim world will be worse one year from now than it is today. That’s a seven-point jump from a month ago.
