What They Told Us: Reviewing Last Week’s Key Polls: Week Ending June 5, 2009
Most voters continue to approve of the job President Obama is doing, but, as is often the case, the devil is in the details.
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June 6, 2009
June 6, 2009
Recall the Stimulus by Lawrence Kudlow
Testifying before the House Budget Committee this week, Ben Bernanke said that when the time comes, the Fed will raise interest rates in order to stop inflation from building in the next recovery. He also asked for "fiscal balance" to sustain financial stability. On the surface -- in terms of keeping prices stable and restoring value to the softening U.S. dollar -- this is positive. Surely Bernanke wants to do right for America, and he's giving it his best shot.
June 5, 2009
Rasmussen Reports Daily Prediction Challenge: Islamic Relationship
On June 5-6, 2009, Rasmussen Reports will be asking likely voters nationwide the following question: Do most Islamic nation’s want to have a positive and peaceful relationship with the United States?
June 5, 2009
51% Rate Obama’s Leadership Skills Good or Excellent
Fifty-one percent (51%) of U.S. voters say President Obama is a good or excellent leader. While still positive, that number is down from 55% last month and is the lowest level found since he took office in January.
June 5, 2009
Americans Overwhelmingly Believe Judges of Different Backgrounds Would Reach Same Conclusion
Sixty-six percent (66%) of voters nationwide believe that well-qualified male and female judges would reach the same conclusion most of the time. The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey found that just 17% disagree and another 17% are not sure.
June 5, 2009
Supremely Representative: Should the Nation's Highest Court Look Like America? By Barbara A. Perry
The U.S. Constitution is utterly silent on qualifications for members of the federal judiciary. Theoretically, a justice does not even have to be a lawyer, but, in practice, all 110 justices in the Supreme Court's 220-year history have been attorneys. With no constitutionally mandated selection criteria, presidents have been free to determine the standards by which they choose nominees. Professor Henry Abraham, the nation's leading Supreme Court expert, has identified four primary selection criteria that presidents have used in the appointment process: 1) merit, 2) ideology, 3) friendship, and 4) representation.
June 5, 2009
83% Say U.S. Legal System Should Treat All Americans Equally
Eighty-three percent (83%) of U.S. voters say America’s legal system should apply the law equally to all Americans rather than using the law to help those who have less power and influence. A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey shows that just 8% disagree.
June 5, 2009
Why Do We Talk About Judges This Way? By Dahlia Lithwick
Nobody in America believes the judicial confirmation system works. Not the senators who eat up precious questioning time with windy speeches about pet projects back home; not the interest groups who scour every sordid instant of a nominee's background for evidence that they are unfit for the bench; and not the American public, whose experiences of constitutional interpretation and judicial philosophy are reduced in a few days on C-SPAN to bumper-sticker claims and counter claims.
June 5, 2009
CEOs Still Bring Up The Rear in Public’s Opinion
With two of the nation’s Big Three automakers in bankruptcy and the economy still a mess, Americans continue to view corporate chief executive officers as the lowest of the low.
June 5, 2009
Advancing Civil Rights By Overturning Old Laws By Michael Barone
Two cases likely to be decided this month by the Supreme Court -- one of them an appeal in a Connecticut case decided by a panel including Supreme Court nominee Judge Sonia Sotomayor -- could result in significant changes in our civil rights laws.
June 4, 2009
Rasmussen Reports Daily Prediction Challenge: Walmart
The daily Rasmussen Reports Prediction Challenge for Thursday focuses on Walmart in the community.
June 4, 2009
New Jersey Governor: Christie (R) 51% Corzine (D) 38%
New Jersey’s Democratic Governor Jon S. Corzine, who hopes to win a second term in November, has now fallen behind Republican challenger Christopher J. Christie by 15 points – 49% to 34%.
June 4, 2009
26% Applaud GM Bailout But 17% Favor Boycott
Twenty-six percent (26%) of American adults believe it was a good idea for the federal government to take ownership of General Motors as the auto giant was on the verge of collapse. Nearly as many--17%--say that Americans should protest the bailout by boycotting GM and refusing to buy its cars. Most Americans are somewhere in between.
June 4, 2009
Headcount Follies By Debra J. Saunders
If you see the federal government as a benign force that seeks only to make your life better, then the questions in the U.S. Census Bureau's American Community Survey may not bother you. But if you have a smidgen of doubt, or if you value your privacy, you probably aren't going to like some of Uncle Sam's invasive queries.
June 4, 2009
Rasmussen Employment Index Makes Modest Gain in May
The Rasmussen Employment Index, a monthly measure of U.S. worker confidence in the employment market, rose for the third straight month in May.
June 4, 2009
Domestic Terrorism by Any Standard By Joe Conason
If right-wing broadcasters don't want to be blamed when someone murders a person they have demonized repeatedly -- as in the case of George Tiller, the doctor shot dead in his Wichita, Kan., church last Sunday by an anti-abortion zealot -- then they ought to moderate their rhetoric. No doubt they will choose their words more carefully for a while, and they will whine piteously about anyone who calls attention to their screaming extremism.
June 4, 2009
74% Say Peace between Israel and Palestinians Not Likely in Next 10 Years
Seventy-four percent (74%) of U.S. voters say it is unlikely there will be lasting peace between the Palestinians and Israel within the next decade Twenty-seven percent (27%) say it’s not at all likely.
June 4, 2009
Motown Wonders: Where Did Our Love Go? By Froma Harrop
The alternative to a government rescue of General Motors is the collapse of the industrial Midwest. Nonetheless, there's been a surprisingly large amount of dumping on the Chapter 11 bankruptcy plan. The government-sponsored deal seems to have stirred up resentments for every ideology.
June 3, 2009
What's Keeping Obama Up? By Dick Morris
The Rasmussen poll conducted over the weekend of May 30-31 asked a key question designed to give us perspective on Obama's current popularity.
June 3, 2009
Voters’ Opinions on America’s Direction Remain Steady
Thirty-seven percent (37%) of U.S. voters say America is heading in the right direction this week.
