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Most Voters Expect Increased Partisanship in Washington

Voters appear a little less confident that members of both major parties will be able to work together in Washington, D.C. 

A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 56% of Likely Voters now think politics in the nation's capital will be more partisan over the next year.  Only 49% felt that way just after Election Day, the lowest finding since early March 2009. 

Only 19% now say politics in D.C. will be more cooperative over the next year, while 25% are not sure. (To see survey question wording, click here.) 

Still, the latest numbers remain slightly more optimistic than most monthly findings since August 2009.

Following the big GOP wins on Election Day, 71% of voters think it is at least somewhat likely that the next president will be a Republican, with 41% who say it is Very Likely. The overall number is up 10 points from last month and is the highest finding since regular tracking began on the question in January 2009. The Very Likely number, however, marks little change from findings since the first of this year.

Twenty percent (20%) say it's not very or not all likely that the next president will be a Republican. It is important to note that the question does not indicate whether that next president will be elected in 2012 or 2016.

(Want a free daily e-mail update? If it's in the news, it's in our polls).  Rasmussen Reports updates are also available on Twitter or Facebook. 

The survey of 1,000 Likely Voters nationwide was conducted on December 1-2, 2010 by Rasmussen Reports. The margin of sampling error is +/- 3 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence. Field work for all Rasmussen Reports surveys is conducted by Pulse Opinion Research, LLC. See methodology.

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