Now that the elections are behind us, 76% of voters think it’s at least somewhat likely that the outgoing Congress will try to pass major legislation during a lame-duck session before the newly elected Members of Congress take office. While most expect them to try, just 36% believe they should.
Most new members of the U.S. Senate and House won’t be seated until two months after their election, and a plurality of Americans think that’s too long a time.
A majority of voters see the possibility of big things from the new Congress in the early going next year.
As President Obama and his staff consider delaying the withdrawal date for U.S. troops in Afghanistan, voters remain pessimistic about the longest-lasting conflict in American history.
While voters tend to disapprove of the way President Obama is dealing with the country's economic problems, they remain more positive about his handling of foreign policy.
Most voters think Congress should wait until the new members take office in January before tackling any major new legislation, but even more expect Democrats to try to pass major legislation anyway in the upcoming lame-duck session.
President Obama’s trip to Asia this week took him back to Indonesia, the world’s largest Muslim nation, where he spent some of his childhood. Despite the president’s ongoing outreach to the Muslim world, many Americans remain wary.
Voters are ambivalent about House Republican plans to investigate the Obama administration – unless the subject of the probe is the unpopular national health care bill.
National polling firms and others sorted out the many races for Senate and governor clearly identifying winners in most well before Election Day. However, seven Senate races and 11 governors’ races were still rated Toss-Ups by Real Clear Politics heading into the final day.
Voters have decidedly divided opinions about House Republican plans to investigate the Obama administration’s performance to date. GOP voters like the idea; Democrats don’t.
Republican voters remain strongly critical of how their party’s representatives in Congress are performing and have a highly favorable opinion of the Tea Party movement that is pushing the GOP more to the political right.
Many Americans still believe raising the age requirement to obtain a driver’s license will benefit society in two ways: It will reduce the number of auto accidents and reduce the cost of auto insurance.
Roughly one-quarter to one-third of Republican primary voters say they would be inclined to consider a third-party candidate if any of the current favorites wins the GOP presidential nomination for 2012.
Most voters are pretty confident that the right candidates were the official winners in last Tuesday’s elections, but nearly one-in-five think a lot of ineligible voters were allowed to cast ballots.
The Republican takeover of the House of Representatives last week did not change voters’ perceptions on the likelihood of repeal of the unpopular national health care law, but the number who see repeal as likely remains at its highest level since the bill’s passage.
While public polling generally gave a good projection of what to expect around the country in Election 2010, that was not the case in Nevada.
Most voters said going into Election Day that it was all about President Obama’s agenda, and coming out on the other side, they’re reinforcing that message.
So what’s a president to do?
With the Republican takeover of the House driven in part by widespread opposition to the national health care law, debate is already heavy in Washington over whether the new GOP majority will push for full repeal of the measure.
Most voters are not confident that President Obama can work with the new Republican majority in the House to do what’s best for the American people.
