What They Told Us: Reviewing Last Week’s Key Polls: Week Ending January 2, 2009
Welcome to 2009! Last year was a rough one for all of us, but many Americans are pinning their hopes on Barack Obama, who becomes president in less than three weeks.
Welcome to 2009! Last year was a rough one for all of us, but many Americans are pinning their hopes on Barack Obama, who becomes president in less than three weeks.
As we approach the change from a Republican to a Democratic administration, I have been thinking about the differences in the basic character of our two historic parties -- the oldest and third oldest free political parties in the world (number two, at least by my count, is the British Conservative Party).
Just 39% of U.S. voters are at least somewhat confident they will receive all of their promised Social Security benefits from the federal government in their lifetimes. Only 13% are Very Confident of that payout.
Over half of Americans (52%) now believe it is possible for Israel and the Palestinians to live in peace, but just 35% think Barack Obama is likely to help end the conflict during his presidency.
Barack Obama's pick for commerce secretary, New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, vows to create millions of technology jobs that can't be outsourced. Sounds good, particularly in this melting economy.
Americans have a bit more confidence in 2009 than in the year that just passed, but 50% of adults believe the country will still be in a recession this time next year.
Republican Senate leader Mitch McConnell is absolutely right to warn against Obama's gigantic stimulus-spending package. McConnell says it "will be the largest spending bill in the history of our country at a time when our national debt is already the largest in history." As a result, he says the bill "will require tough scrutiny and oversight."
When I was younger, New Year's was a time fraught with frantic uncertainty revolving around the seemingly critical questions of whether I would have a date and-or something to do.
For many people, New Year’s resolutions are made to be broken, so this year it looks like most aren’t even bothering with the time-honored tradition. Fifty-two percent (52%) of adults say they will not make a New Year’s resolution.
Fifty-nine percent (59%) of men plan to kiss someone at midnight on New Year’s Eve, and 55% of women say the same.
Americans, while far more sympathetic to Israel than the Palestinians, are closely divided over whether the Jewish state should be taking military action against militants in the Gaza Strip.
As President-elect Obama vacations with his family in Hawaii and publicly complains about the intrusiveness of the press pool and the intense scrutiny of his Secret Service team, I suspect about now Obama may be recalling George Bernard Shaw's heartless observation that: "There are two tragedies in life. One is not to get your heart's desire. The other is to get it."
As we ready ourselves to ring out the old and ring in the new, just 11% of adults say New Year's Day is one of the most important holidays of the year.
The beginning and the end of the 2008 General Election campaign were remarkably stable. Initially, after Barack Obama wrapped up the Democratic nomination, he was ahead of John McCain by four to seven points just about every night for the entire month of June. At the other end of the campaign, Obama was consistently up by about five to seven points for the last 40 days of the campaign.
Everyone knows what must be done if there is to be a lasting peace between Israelis and Palestinians. Israel's forceful response to rocket attacks from Gaza does not change that.
If President Bush had been looking for a textbook case of a federal offender who should never win a presidential pardon, Isaac R. Toussie would fit the bill.
Three-out-of-five U.S. adults (60%) say they are comfortable using a credit card for online purchases despite recent news reports of identity theft and poor computer security.
As the incoming Obama administration and the Democratic congressional leadership scramble for ways to right the U.S. economy, 70% of U.S. voters say a free market is better than one managed by the government.
With the country preparing to inaugurate Barack Obama as the next president of the United States next month, it’s hard to remember how improbable the notion of a President Obama seemed just a year ago. In fact, all indications are that Obama himself wasn’t really expecting to win it all in 2008.
While Catholics and Protestants both fall under the broad umbrella of Christianity, they practice their faith in different ways.