America’s at war and in the midst of economic problems of an historic magnitude. We’re also at the end of one presidency and the beginning of the next, with a largely new cast of characters to lead the nation at this critical time.
Sixty-eight percent (68%) of American voters see Barack Obama as politically liberal, including 41% who say he is very liberal.
Nearly half of U.S. voters (47%) say Vice President-elect Joseph Biden will not play as important a role in the Obama Administration as Vice President Dick Cheney did during the Bush years.
Gates, who has been defense secretary for two years, is viewed favorably by 44% of U.S. voters, with 16% rating their view as Very Favorable. He is regarded unfavorably by just 21%, including seven percent (7%) who say their opinion of him is Very Unfavorable.
The key Democrats on Capitol Hill who will be working to reverse the country’s financial downturn are better known than Barack Obama’s new economic team but not better thought of by voters.
Wall Street is reportedly reassured by President-elect Obama’s choice of Timothy Geithner to be secretary of the Treasury, but right now 53% of U.S. voters don’t know enough about him to have an opinion about his selection.
Nearly half of U.S. voters (49%) say the United States should not close the terrorist prison camp at Guantanamo Naval Base in Cuba, but the identical number (49%) also say Barack Obama is Very likely to close it in the first year of his presidency.
This time it looks like Congress is listening to the voters. Nearly half of U.S. voters (48%) told Rasmussen Reports this week that it is better for the economy to let companies like General Motors fail rather than providing government subsidies to keep them in business.
Over half of U.S. voters (53%) give Barack Obama good or excellent marks on how he will handle the economy, up five points since right after Election Day, although he won’t formally begin to execute his plans for another two months.
Hillary Clinton hasn’t made up her mind yet whether to take the job, but 28% of U.S. voters say she would make the best secretary of State for incoming President Barack Obama.
Depending on voters’ political party and ideology, Barack Obama’s appointments to the U.S. Supreme Court will either be too liberal or about right. Very few, however, expect his choices for the high court to be too conservative.
While Russia was the first country to challenge President-elect Obama with a threat to deploy new missiles facing Europe, most U.S. voters expect terrorists or Iran to provide the new president’s first international test in office.
President-elect Barack Obama continues to bask in the afterglow of a big and historic election, despite an equally historic post-election slump in the stock market.
Given America’s current economic problems and its foreign policy entanglements, voters overwhelmingly want to see bipartisanship at play in Washington, D.C.
Changing the way government works may have been the winning message on Election Day, but three out of four Republicans (75%) are worried that Barack Obama will change things too much as president. Half of unaffiliated voters (49%) share that concern, according to a new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey.
Sixty-eight percent (68%) of U.S. voters support offshore oil drilling as a way to keep gas prices down, but only 44% are confident that President-elect Barack Obama agrees with them.
Voter confidence in the War on Terror has reached its highest level ever, with 60% now saying the United States and its allies are winning, according to the first Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey on the issue since Election Day.
Forty-five percent of voters (45%) say Barack Obama will govern as a partisan Democrat, while 40% say he will govern on a bipartisan basis, according to the latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey.
For most U.S. voters, the only thing worse than calling a candidate a conservative is calling him a liberal.
Sixty-two percent (62%) of U.S. voters say Michelle Obama is more likely to be an activist first lady like Hillary Clinton rather than a more traditional one like Laura Bush.
