What are the politics of the housing meltdown? Foreclosure agony is undoubtedly a campaign issue, but the political question remains: What do the voters want their leader to do about it? Then there's the economic question: What can a president do about it -- other than ask taxpayers to bail out people who took on more debt than they could handle?
Even as both presidential candidates urge Americans to undertake more public service, over half of U.S. voters reject the idea that such duty is better than working in the private sector, according to a new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey. Only one out of six voters view work for the government as a higher calling.
In the early summer days of 1776, a group of men gathered in Philadelphia to craft a document that has become one of history’s great declarations of liberty. In an time and place where challenging the King was considered treason, the Continental Congress declared that the King had no right to claim authority over them.
Despite all the feigned outrage fanned by the mainstream media and the right-wing noisemakers, Wesley Clark -- retired four-star general, former Supreme Commander of NATO, wounded and highly decorated veteran of ground combat in Vietnam and a military man to his core -- assuredly did not denigrate the war record of John McCain when he talked about the Republican candidate on television last Sunday.
Yousuf Raza Gilani, prime minister of Pakistan, will lunch with George W. Bush in the White House on Monday, July 28. That will not be merely another of the president's routine meetings with foreign leaders. As Pakistan's democratically elected government and U.S. diplomats understand, the lunch symbolizes a turn away from Washington's attachment to military rule under the discredited Gen. Pervez Musharraf.
President Bush was on message Wednesday in a Rose Garden news conference, when he kept up the pressure on his a drill, drill, drill offensive. He said he knows Americans are worried about gasoline prices and wants them "to understand fully that we have got the opportunity to find more crude oil here at home in environmentally friendly ways."
Three out of five Americans think the U.S. Constitution is fine as is, but 39% fear it doesn't place enough restrictions on the government, according to a new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey.
Bolstered by strong support from lower income voters and from those who see economic issues as most important this year, Democrats continue to enjoy a double digit advantage over Republicans on the Generic Congressional Ballot.
Barack Obama yesterday kicked off a week of patriotic speeches. It's much more than the normal politician's July 4 oration - it's Obama's answer to a crucial test.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's pronouncement that using coal and oil is making us sick may be the number one video on YouTube, but most voters disagree, according to a new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey.
Should John McCain have to "defend" his military record? Of course not. But the fact that he served in the military, with distinction, does not mean he's qualified to be president.
Three out of four Americans are proud of their country’s history, and nearly as many feel the world would be a better place if more nations were like ours.
In January and February, while Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton were in the early stages of the battle for the Democratic Presidential Nomination, the number of Americans who considered themselves to be Democrats surged to record highs. The numbers have stabilized since then, leaving the Democratic Party with a significant advantage over Republicans in terms of partisan identification.
Just days after Microsoft creator Bill Gates spent his final day at the corporation he co-founded, a Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey found that 68% of adults have a favorable opinion of the multi-billionaire. Just 17% of adults have an unfavorable opinion of Gates.
Most Americans do not believe the U.S. government needs more tax revenue and well over half say all tax increases should be subject to voter approval. A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey found that 52% of voters say the federal government does not need additional tax revenue for important national programs such as highway repairs and health care reform.
Voters overwhelmingly believe that lowering gas prices is the best way to get the U.S. economy going again, even as Congress and the presidential candidates argue for tax cuts or passage of a second government stimulus plan.
Americans’ opinions are split on Barack Obama’s recent decision to opt out of public funding for his presidential campaign. A recent Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey found that 42% of adults believe his decision was smart, while 40% think it was hypocritical.
Workers’ confidence in the labor markets tumbled sharply in June according to the latest update of the Rasmussen Employment Index. For the first time in the five-year history of the Index, the number of employees whose employer is laying people off exceeds the number whose firms are hiring.
Following the lead of the United States Senate, most media coverage of the immigration debate misses the point. For example, a recent Associated Press story noted that since both Presidential candidates support a path to citizenship, immigration reform won’t be a “major point of differentiation” between them.
After a brief rebound in May, economic confidence among small business owners dropped to a record low in June as the number of those who think the U.S. economy is getting worse expanded to nearly 80 percent. The Discover(R) Small Business Watch(SM) plummeted in June to 71.8, down 10 points from 81.8 in May.
