Sixty-four percent (64%) of Illinois voters say that former Governor Rod Blagojevich received a fair impeachment trial in the Illinois Senate. A Rasmussen Reports telephone survey found that just 23% disagree and 13% are not sure.
Voters are evenly divided over whether Congress should attempt to fix the country’s troubled housing market before it takes any other action to help the economy.
Ruth Bader Ginsburg is small in stature, but she has very big shoulders. Alongside a generation of women lawyers, I stand on them, with gratitude and pride. The news that the only woman on the United States Supreme Court has been hospitalized for surgery for pancreatic cancer brings an opportune moment to say thank you.
More bad news for the media. Fifty-four percent (54%) of U.S. voters say the news media make global warming appear worse than it really is. Only 21% say the media present an accurate picture, according to a new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey.
Sixty-two percent (62%) of likely voters now say the United States and its allies are winning the War on Terror. That’s the highest level of confidence found in five years of tracking, and is up from 55% in late January.
The U.S. Postal Service is facing a budget squeeze as customers flock to the Internet and has proposed cutting mail delivery back from six-days-a-week to five. Sixty-nine percent (69%) of Americans say five-day-a-week service is preferable to them than another increase in postal rates.
Republican Attorney General Robert F. McDonnell has a three-to-nine point lead against three hopefuls for the Democratic nomination in this year’s closely-watched Virginia gubernatorial contest.
The majority of Americans say most members of Congress don’t pay all the taxes they owe. In fact, the latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that just 15% are confident that their elected representatives do pay the taxes they levy on others.
Back in October, after the Obama economic stimulus plan had grown from $60 billion to $175 billion and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi had doubled the amount she wanted to spend to $300 billion, I asked, "Do I hear $450 billion?"
Nearly one-out-of-four voters (23%) say it is at least somewhat likely that global warming will destroy human civilization within the next century. Five percent (5%) say it’s very likely.
Mythology is overshadowing history in the debate over President Barack Obama's plan to stimulate the depressed economy. Excessive airtime isdevoted to the prejudices of cable hosts and radio personalities who regurgitate ideas they barely understand (and who haven't entertained an original thought since the Reagan era).
Despite ongoing economic concerns, more voters now believe the nation is heading in the right direction.
Seventy-eight percent (78%) of American women say men and women do not receive equal pay for equal work in the United States. A majority of men (53%) agree, but 37% do not.
Fifty percent (50%) of U.S. voters say the final economic recovery plan that emerges from Congress is at least somewhat likely to make things worse rather than better, but 39% say such an outcome is not likely.
Support for the economic recovery plan working its way through Congress has fallen again this week. For the first time, a plurality of voters nationwide oppose the $800-billion-plus plan.
It was not a good day for ethics in government.
The Discover U.S. Spending Monitor rose 1.2 points in January, mainly due to a slight increase in economic confidence from consumers. The rise in optimism was largely offset by continued restraint on spending intentions, as consumers, buffeted by dismal housing, labor and financial news continue to keep a tight hold on their purse strings.
Many U.S. voters still think the recent pattern of the White House alternating between the political parties will continue, but Barack Obama’s early popularity is dampening that belief somewhat.
There has been some confusing reporting in the past few days regarding President Barack Obama's plans for the Defense Department budget. Officially, the Office of Management and Budget is claiming that it will increase the budget by 8 percent. But because most of the Iraq and Afghanistan war costs have been funded through supplemental appropriations rather than the regular department budget, total military funding remains a mystery.
Tom Daschle's withdrawal from consideration as future secretary of Health and Human Services had to happen. So seemingly strong on health-care policy but weak on ethics, the man President Obama had picked to remake the American health-care system had set off wild mood swings among the public.
