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

Politics

Most Recent Releases

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October 1, 2004

Indiana: Bush 53% Kerry 40%

The first Rasmussen Reports Indiana survey of Election 2004 finds that Hoosiers will give their Electoral Votes to the Republican ticket of George W. Bush and Dick Cheney.

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October 1, 2004

North Carolina: Bush 54% Kerry 42%

President Bush retains a double digit lead in North Carolina.

The latest Rasmussen Reports survey shows that the President has 54% of the Tar Heel vote to 42% for Senator Kerry. That's close to the President's 13-point margin of victory in the Tar Heel State four years ago.

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September 30, 2004

17% of Voters May Be Persuadable

Heading into the first Presidential Debate, President Bush has a modest lead over Senator Kerry. Support for the President is also a bit more solid than the Senator's--90% of Bush voters are certain as to how they will vote.

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September 30, 2004

52% Say Voters Learn About Candidates from Debates

Fifty-two percent (52%) of American voters believe that people learn a lot about the Presidential candidates from the Presidential Debates. A Rasmussen Reports survey of 1,000 Likely Voters found that 32% disagree and say that not much is learned from these ritual performances.

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September 30, 2004

Virginia: Bush 50% Kerry 44

President Bush leads Senator Kerry in Virginia by six percentage points, 50% to 44%. Those figures have changed little over the past month. Heading into the Republican National Convention, the President was ahead in Virginia 50% to 45%.

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September 29, 2004

60% Say Bush Conservative, 50% Say Kerry Liberal

During the month of September, the number of people seeing President Bush as politically conservative dropped from 66% at the beginning of the month to 60% today.

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September 29, 2004

GA: Bush 53% Kerry 42%

In Georgia, President Bush still has a solid double digit lead. The latest Rasmussen Reports survey shows President Bush with 53% of the vote and Senator Kerry with 42%.

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September 28, 2004

Arkansas: Bush 51% Kerry 44%

In the race for the six Electoral College votes from Arkansas, President George W. Bush has solidified his lead.

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September 27, 2004

54% Favor Leaving US Troops to Stabilize Iraq

Most Americans (54%) favor leaving U.S. soldiers in Iraq until that country's political situation is stabilized. A Rasmussen Reports survey of 1,000 Likely Voters found that 31% are opposed to that policy.

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September 27, 2004

94% Say They Will Watch Some of Debate

George W. Bush and John Kerry will face a huge bi-partisan audience in their first televised debate this Thursday night. Sixty-one percent (61%) of voters say they plan to watch the entire debate while another 33% say they will watch some of it.

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September 26, 2004

Social Security

Forty-three percent (43%) of voters say relying on the government for Social Security benefits is riskier than letting workers invest for their own retirement.

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September 26, 2004

Tax Cuts

While many lawmakers have been critical of President Bush's tax cuts, Congress overwhelmingly voted to extend those cuts this past week. The $1.9 trillion tax cut extension passed the House 339-65 and the Senate 92-3.

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September 26, 2004

Nevada Senate: Reid 52% Ziser 40%

In his bid for re-election, Democratic Senator Harry Reid has a 12-point lead over Republican challenger Richard Ziser. Reid's 52% to 40% advantage today is a bit tighter than his 17-point lead a month ago (in August, Reid was ahead 53% to 36%).

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September 26, 2004

66% Say Bush Optimist

Sixty-six percent (66%) of voters say that President Bush is an optimist. A Rasmussen Reports survey found that just 18% believe the President is a pessimist.

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September 21, 2004

39% Have Favorable Opinion of Rather

Longtime CBS news anchor Dan Rather is viewed favorably by 39% of Likely Voters and unfavorably by 36%. Those numbers are down slightly from a week ago. In our previous survey, 42% had a favorable opinion of Rather and while 33% said their view was unfavorable.

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September 21, 2004

West Virginia: Bush 50% Kerry 44%

In West Virginia, the latest Rasmussen Reports survey shows President Bush leading Senator Kerry by a 50% to 44% margin. Four years ago, Bush won the state by six points over Al Gore, 52% to 46%.

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September 20, 2004

New York: Kerry 49% Bush 44%

John Kerry's lead in New York is down to single digits. The Empire State, among the bluest of the Blue States from Election 2000, is still in the Kerry column for our Electoral College projections, but the raw numbers are stunning.

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September 20, 2004

Voters See Newspaper Bias

Forty percent (40%) of voters see the campaign coverage of their local newspapers as unbiased. However, only 20% to 29% view national papers as unbiased.

Among five different papers, the New York Times is seen as the most biased--35% believe its coverage is biased to help Kerry while only 22% believe it is unbiased. This may be a lingering response to the Jayson Blair scandals from last year. At that time, only 46% of Americans viewed the New York Times as a reliable source of information.

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September 19, 2004

Voters See All Networks with Bias

Television news networks would like to see themselves as a team of impartial journalists working on behalf of their audience.

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September 19, 2004

The 1896 Election: A Model for 2004?

Many pundits (and 26% of voters) think that Election 2004 will be just like Election 2000—too close to call. Others wonder if it’s more like Clinton’s 1996 re-election effort or the 1988 campaign (the first President Bush vs. a different Massachusetts liberal Democrat).