Time out! Christmas is an appropriate time to take a break from the political and social battles that dominate the landscape the rest of the year. After all, it's still the nation’s most important holiday as far as Americans are concerned, edging the Fourth of July.
The government still doesn't have it right when it comes to the economy, as far as most voters are concerned.
The Senate late yesterday approved the so-called START Treaty that calls for a reduction in the nuclear weapons stockpiles of both Russia and the United States, but U.S. voters remain wary of the former Soviet Union’s willingness to comply.
The Tea Party movement was one of the biggest political stories during the 2010 election season. From an electoral standpoint, the grassroots movement had it first impact by forcing long-time Senator Arlen Specter out of the Republican Party (and eventually out of the U.S. Senate). By the end of the season, several Tea Party candidates such as Florida’s Marco Rubio and Kentucky’s Rand Paul were elected to the U.S. Senate.
Most voters think the most important role for government is to protect their individual rights.
Though a sizable number of voters view the religious faith of political candidates as important, they don’t want their local religious leaders telling them who to vote for.
Voters have mixed feelings about how much influence religious leaders have when it comes to U.S. government policy, but very few believe most politicians put their religious faith first.
The Tea Party was widely credited (or blamed) with playing a major role in Election 2010 and most voters expect that the grass roots movement will have as much, if not more, influence on the 2012 political campaigns.
For the first time since Democrats in Congress passed the health care bill in March, a majority of U.S. voters believe the measure is likely to be repealed.
President Obama and senior congressional Republicans eked out a victory this week on the bill extending the Bush tax cuts for two years, cutting the federal payroll tax for a year, and extending emergency unemployment benefits for 13 months.
Most Tea Party members view the candidates they elected in November as agents of change from government business as usual, but non-members are a lot more skeptical.
While a plurality of voters continues to give President Obama positive ratings on his handling of national security issues, his ratings on economic issues remain near all-time lows.
Even as support for the tax cut deal worked out by President Obama and senior congressional Republicans is falling, many Americans feel the two sides aren’t working hard enough to get along.
A sizable number of U.S. voters continue to believe that relations between Israel and the United States will worsen in the year ahead.
Voters are more concerned than ever that the ongoing Obama administration effort to close the Guantanamo prison camp in Cuba will allow dangerous terrorists to go free.
U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder is urging Congress not to pass pending legislation that would ban the transfer of terrorism suspects from the Guantanamo prison camp in Cuba to the United States for any reason. The Obama administration plans to try some of those suspects in U.S. courts.
Voters still strongly believe that gaining control of the border should be the legislative priority.
Voters are evenly divided over whether young people brought to this country illegally by their parents should be viewed as breaking the law. Making a distinction between illegal immigrants and their children is at the heart of the so-called DREAM Act that some in Congress are hoping to pass before the end of the lame duck session.
Time doesn’t seem to be winning the new national health care law any more friends. Most voters have favored repeal of the law every week since it was passed and support for repeal has now inched up to its highest level since mid-September. Many Americans remain concerned that the law will force them to change their health insurance coverage.
President Obama threw a couple curve balls in the last few days when it comes to the economy - closing a deal with congressional Republicans that would continue the Bush tax cuts for all Americans and extending a ban on offshore drilling in the eastern Gulf of Mexico and along the Eastern seaboard.
