If it's in the News, it's in our Polls. Public opinion polling since 2003.

Commentary by Michael Barone

Most Recent Releases

White letter R on blue background
May 11, 2009

On Guns and Climate, the Elites Are Out of Touch By Michael Barone

Many years ago, political scientists came up with a theory that elites lead public opinion. And on some issues, they clearly do. But on some issues, they don't.

White letter R on blue background
May 7, 2009

White House Puts UAW Ahead of Property Rights By Michael Barone

Last Friday, the day after Chrysler filed for bankruptcy, I drove past the company's headquarters on I-75 in Auburn Hills, Mich. As I glanced at the pentagram logo, I felt myself tearing up a little bit. Anyone who grew up in the Detroit area, as I did, can't help but be sad to see a once great company fail.

White letter R on blue background
May 4, 2009

Beware of Mandatory Arbitration in Card Check By Michael Barone

In his statement explaining his decision to switch from the Republican to the Democratic Party, Sen. Arlen Specter assured his listeners that "my position on Employees Free Choice (card check) will not change."

White letter R on blue background
April 30, 2009

Specter's Party Switch Is All About Winning By Michael Barone

Only his most sycophantic admirers might compare Pennsylvania Sen. Arlen Specter with Winston Churchill, but the two do have something in common. Both had long and turbulent political careers, and both switched parties twice.

White letter R on blue background
April 25, 2009

The Left's Angry Mob Recalls Madame Defarge By Michael Barone

It's tough trying to please people who crave vengeance almost as much as Madame Defarge, the unsparing French revolutionary in Dickens' "Tale of Two Cities."

White letter R on blue background
April 23, 2009

Obama Lets Congress -- and Lobbyists -- Do the Work By Michael Barone

The balance between the executive and legislative branches in writing laws has changed over the centuries. In the 19th century, Sen. Stephen Douglas wrote the Kansas-Nebraska Act, with President Franklin Pierce just an interested bystander.

White letter R on blue background
April 21, 2009

Back to the Future: Obama's Foreign Policy By Michael Barone

As Barack Obama finishes up his second major foreign tour, a pattern in his approach to foreign policy seems to be emerging.

White letter R on blue background
April 16, 2009

On Climate and Health, Beware of Easy Formulas By Michael Barone

Beware of geeks bearing formulas. That's the lesson most of us have learned from the financial crisis. The "quants" who devised the risk models that induced so many financial institutions to buy mortgage-backed securities thought they had reduced risk down to zero.

White letter R on blue background
April 11, 2009

Unions Can't Move the World By Michael Barone

If you have a long enough lever, you can move the world. That's an old saying attributed to Archimedes. But what Archimedes didn't add is that a long enough lever may splinter in your hands if the material is not strong enough. You may end up not moving the world where you wanted it to go and finding yourself in a position you didn't want to be in.

White letter R on blue background
April 4, 2009

Obama Abroad: In Some Ways, Much Like Bush By Michael Barone

Barack Obama's foreign policy is beginning to take shape. Semantically, it's a sharp repudiation of the policies of the George W. Bush administration. In reality, it's something like a continuation of Bush policies. Or, if you want to distinguish between the allegedly confrontation-minded policies of Bush's first term and the more accommodationist policies of his second term -- a distinction that I think is exaggerated but has something to it -- then it's something like the second Bush term. With, of course, some differences.

White letter R on blue background
March 28, 2009

Not Yet Ready for a Welfare State By Michael Barone

Roadblocks. That's what Barack Obama has been encountering on the audacious path toward a European-style welfare state he has set out in his budget and other proposals.

White letter R on blue background
March 21, 2009

Card Check: Good for Unions, Bad for America By Michael Barone

The Obama administration's budget is full of proposals that threaten to weaken our staggering economy.

White letter R on blue background
March 14, 2009

Criticism Shows Obama Is Losing Focus By Michael Barone

We've been hearing a lot of criticism of Barack Obama in recent days from pro-Obama corners -- from celebrity investor Warren Buffett, from moderate conservative columnist David Brooks, from one of the Democratic Party's deepest thinkers, William Galston -- all along the same lines.

White letter R on blue background
March 7, 2009

Crushing Those Animal Spirits By Michael Barone

"Animal spirits," said John Maynard Keynes, are the essential spring of capitalism. We depend on the animal spirits of investors, high earners and entrepreneurs for a growing economy.

White letter R on blue background
February 28, 2009

Liberals Turning Blind Eye to Human Rights By Michael Barone

On the last day of her trip to East Asia, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton spoke briefly of the place of human rights in American policy toward China. "Our pressing on those issues" -- issues she didn't identify any more fully -- "can't interfere with the global economic crisis, the global climate change crisis and the security crisis."

White letter R on blue background
February 21, 2009

Count on the Constitution By Michael Barone

All of America was watching Barack Obama on Jan. 20 as he promised to "preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States." But few thought that, within a month, controversy would arise over the Constitution's census clause.

White letter R on blue background
February 14, 2009

The Real Lessons of the Great Depression By Michael Barone

"Not since the Great Depression." "Not since the 1930s." You hear those phrases a lot these days, and with some reason. As Congress prepares to pass the Democratic stimulus package, it may be worthwhile to look back at Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal and consider how well it worked as policy -- and politically.

White letter R on blue background
February 7, 2009

Calm and Cool on a No Good, Very Bad Day By Michael Barone

Tuesday, Feb. 3, was a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day for Barack Obama.

White letter R on blue background
January 31, 2009

The GOP Should Go Upscale By Michael Barone

There's a debate going on in some Republican circles over which groups of the electorate the party should target.

White letter R on blue background
January 24, 2009

The Obama-Kennedy Connection By Michael Barone

Last Tuesday, for the 22nd time in 220 years, Americans saw the peaceful post-election transfer of power from one political party to another. In our great outdoor national ceremony, scheduled for some reason on a day that is as likely as any other to be the coldest of the year, Barack Obama took the oath as our 44thth president and spoke to the nation for 19 minutes in a speech that was far more somber than the mood of the crowd of 2 million on the Mall.