For most Americans in most years, Thanksgiving represents the beginning of the holiday season. This year, America’s political junkies may remember Thanksgiving as the time when Election 2008 really got started.
During the month of November, 37.4% of Americans considered themselves to be Democrats, 32.5% said they were Republicans, and 30.2% were not affiliated with either major party.
A Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey found that just 23% of American voters believe the United States is heading in the right direction. That’s up two points since September, but 71% still believe the nation has gotten off on the wrong track.
Arizona Senator John McCain has struggled in the race for the GOP nomination, but he continues to be competitive in general-election match-ups with top Democrats.
With the first caucuses and primaries of Election 2008 only weeks away, a new Rasmussen Reports survey of potential general-election bouts shows Senator Barack Obama (D) and former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani (R) neck-and-neck, with Obama barely ahead 43% to 41%. In the same poll, Obama moderately leads former Tennessee Senator Fred Thompson 48% to 41%.
In New Hampshire, home to the first-in-the-nation Presidential Primary, Hillary Clinton’s lead over Barack Obama is now measured in single digits.
This is not a good time to be Mitt Romney. After almost a year of having the Iowa and New Hampshire airwaves to himself, he is now facing a challenge on the right from Mike Huckabee and Fred Thompson and on the left from Rudy Giuliani.
In New Hampshire’s Republican Presidential Primary, the latest Rasmussen Reports telephone survey shows former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney with 34% support and a nineteen-point lead.
The Iowa Democratic caucuses remain a three-person race that is far too close to call. The latest Rasmussen Reports poll of the Iowa Democratic Caucus for 2008 finds Hillary Clinton at 27%, Barack Obama at 25%, and John Edwards at 24%. Bill Richardson is the only other Democrat in double-digits at 10% while Joe Biden earns 4% of the vote from Likely Caucus Participants.
Confidence in the War on Terror increased for the fourth straight month in November and is now near the highest level of President Bush’s second term in office.
This week, the Crystal Ball publishes another installment in our intermittent series of observations on the 2008 campaign and the politics of the day.
The new Rasmussen Iowa numbers taken together with earlier polls taken by ABC News and the Washington Post, throw many assumptions about the likely result of the Republican Presidential primary into doubt.
Until recently, one of the few settled features in the race for the Republican nomination was Mitt Romney’s lead in the early voting states of Iowa and New Hampshire.
The latest Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of the Iowa caucus finds former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee with 28% of the vote, former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney with 25% support, and everyone else far behind.
Former Congressman Bob Schaffer (R) and Congressman Mark Udall (D)—vying for the open seat vacated by retiring Senator Wayne Allard, a Republican—are virtually tied when likely Colorado voters consider their state’s 2008 Senate election.
By the end of the Thanksgiving holiday weekend, 45% of American adults had started their holiday shopping. That’s up from 27% earlier in the month.
Economic confidence among small business owners declined for the fourth straight month in November, as increased pessimism over the U.S. economy dragged down indicators of relative stability at the small business level, according to the Discover Small Business Watch.
You have to feel a little sorry for the people of Iowa. While the waning days of any campaign produce an outpouring of annoying commercials, negativity, and in-your-face solicitations, this year those unsavory features of modern elections will take place in the midst of the holiday season.
There’s less than six weeks to go until the Iowa caucuses kick-off Election 2008 and the race for the Republican Presidential nomination remains as muddled as ever.
In states holding Primaries or Caucuses on February 5, the races for the Republican and Democratic Presidential nominations look broadly similar to the competition on a national level.
