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What They Told Us: Reviewing Last Week’s Key Polls -- Week Ending June 20, 2015

Another week, another wave of campaign launches for the crowded Republican field in 2016.

Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush and celebrity billionaire Donald Trump’s announcements this week bring the list of official GOP candidates to 12, but most voters (60%) say it’s better to include all candidates in debates rather than include only those candidates who are above a certain threshold in the polls. Thirty-three percent (33%) disagree and think debates should only include candidates above a certain level of support.

Bush’s entry into the Republican presidential field comes with a burden that the other candidates don’t face: his surname. Forty-three percent (43%) of voters say they are less likely to vote for Bush due to the fact that his father and brother both served as president, while 15% say they are more likely to vote for Jeb because of his family’s political stature. Thirty-nine percent (39%) said the Bush name would have no impact on their vote. However, 56% of Republican voters say that Bush is at least somewhat likely to win the nomination, the highest ranking of any declared GOP candidate

That compares to just 27% of GOP voters who think Trump will be the GOP nominee, putting him near the bottom of the field.

Regardless of who wins the presidency in 2016, voters want the federal government to shrink. Fifty percent (50%) believe the era of big government should be over, but just 18% think it already is

Similarly, voters see an overly powerful government as a bigger danger in the world than an under-powered one

Voters may question just how faithful President Obama has been to the U.S. Constitution, but they continue to stand firm in their own belief about the document that has been the supreme law of the United States for 227 years. 

On the national security front, more voters than ever now say the terrorists are winning the War on Terror. Half (49%) don’t think the government focuses enough on the threat of potential domestic Islamic terrorism.

But enough about politics. Tomorrow is Father’s Day, and while voters don’t put much importance on the holiday itself, they still strongly believe in the importance of fatherhood.

In other surveys last week:

-- Voters say that economic growth is more important than economic fairness and they give a thumbs up to policies that expand the economy over policies that promote fairness. 

-- President Obama’s approval rating continues to hover near the lowest levels of the year. 

-- Americans say they want change, but do they want to pay for it? We decided to find out what America thinks.

-- Twenty-seven percent (27%) of voters now think the country is heading in the right direction. 

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