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August 10, 2015

Do Most Voters Want to Skimp on Their Taxes?

Donald Trump said recently that he tries to pay as little in taxes as possible, but most Americans don’t agree and insist they want to pay their fair share. The problem is most think they already are paying more than their fair share in taxes.

August 10, 2015

How Do Democrats View Biden and Clinton?

While Democratic voters are closely divided over whether he should run for president, a sizable majority still likes Vice President Joe Biden.

August 8, 2015

What They Told Us: Reviewing Last Week’s Key Polls - Week Ending August 8, 2015

The presidential season is officially open with last Thursday night’s Republican debates, and for many GOP voters, at least, it couldn’t come too soon.

Ninety percent (90%) of Republicans told us they are likely to watch some of the GOP candidate debates, and if the early numbers are any indicator, a lot of them tuned in Thursday. Republicans are planning at least 11 debates in all.

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August 7, 2015

Too Many Candidates to Fit on a Stage: Democrats Then, Republicans Now By Michael Barone

Why did Fox News decide to schedule two Republican presidential debates rather than one? Simple arithmetic: 90 minutes divided by 17 candidates equals 5 minutes and 29 seconds apiece. That's scarcely enough time for the oral equivalent of a few tweets.   

August 7, 2015

Voters Are Skeptical of Obama’s Latest Energy Plan

President Obama earlier this week announced an even more ambitious plan to cut carbon dioxide emissions from power plants, but voters see more costs than rewards. The president’s plan will require a 32% drop in carbon dioxide emissions from power plants by 2030 and a 28% increase in the amount of power generated by renewable sources by 2025.

August 7, 2015

Are the Republicans Losing Already?

Republican presidential hopefuls brandishing their social conservative credentials at their first debate last night may already have sown the seeds of defeat.

(Want a free daily e-mail update? If it's in the news, it's in our polls). Rasmussen Reports updates are also available on Twitter or Facebook.

August 7, 2015

Are the Republicans Losing Already?

Republican presidential hopefuls brandishing their social conservative credentials at their first debate last night may already have sown the seeds of defeat.

(Want a free daily e-mail update? If it's in the news, it's in our polls). Rasmussen Reports updates are also available on Twitter or Facebook.

August 6, 2015

Will 'Mockingbird' Fans Read the Sequel?

Many regard the 1960 novel "To Kill A Mockingbird" as one of the most significant American literary achievements of the 20th Century. It was author Harper Lee's only book, so the literary world - and countless readers - were stunned when it was recently announced that Lee had written a sequel, "Go Set A Watchman," which had just been discovered in a bank safe-deposit box.

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August 6, 2015

Biden vs. Hillary

Worried that the controversies surrounding Hillary Clinton are wounding her chances for the presidency, some Democrats have begun pushing Vice President Joe Biden’s candidacy. Democratic voters are closely divided over a Biden presidential bid, but voters in general think he’d make a better president than Clinton.

August 6, 2015

Obama vs. Congress: Politics As Usual?

President Obama and the Republican-controlled Congress don’t agree on much, but many voters still wonder what’s really fueling the tension.

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August 6, 2015

The Angry American Voter By Alan I. Abramowitz and Steven Webster

As Republicans take the stage in Cleveland for their first presidential primary debate tonight — with Donald Trump in the middle of it — one thing is already abundantly clear: A lot of voters are angry. Very angry. In fact, a lot of voters have been angry for some time. The phenomenon that we call “negative partisanship,” antipathy on the part of Democratic and Republican voters toward the opposing party and its leaders, has been on the rise since the 1980s, and today it is arguably the most salient feature of the political scene in the United States. Now voter ire appears to be shaping both parties’ 2016 presidential nomination races. The rise of Trump and Bernie Sanders in the Republican and Democratic nomination contests, respectively, is symptomatic of this increased anger in the American electorate.

August 5, 2015

Voters Favor Deportation More Than Government Does

President Obama's plan to exempt up to five million illegal immigrants from deportation remains tied up in court, but most voters still don’t think the United States is aggressive enough in deporting those who are here illegally.

August 5, 2015

Debate Time – Will Republicans Be Watching?

Much already has been made of the upcoming debates between the Republican candidates for president, but will GOP voters be tuning in? Are they ready for 20 or more debates like there were four years ago?

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August 5, 2015

Gun Lies By John Stossel

My town, New York City, enforces rigid gun laws. Police refused to assign me a gun permit. The law doesn't even let me hold a fake gun on TV to demonstrate something.

But New York politicians are so eager to vilify gun ownership that they granted an exception to the anti-gun group States United to Prevent Gun Violence. New York allowed States United to set up a fake gun store, where cameras filmed potential gun customers being spoofed by an actor pretending to be a gun-seller.

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August 5, 2015

Obama's Climate Hubris By Betsy McCaughey

This week, President Obama is hailing his Clean Power Plan as "the single most important step America has ever taken in the fight against global climate change." Obama is posing as the environment's savior, just as he did in 2008, when he promised his presidency would mark "the moment when ... the rise of the oceans began to slow and our planet began to heal." Seven years later, that messianic legacy is in doubt. Obama's Clean Power Plan has never had legislative support, even when his own party controlled both houses of Congress. Now he's trying to impose it without Congress, an audacious ploy his old Harvard law professor Laurence Tribe condemns as "burning the Constitution."   

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August 5, 2015

Yes or No to Federal Funding of Planned Parenthood?

Voters may not approve of Planned Parenthood’s sale of the body organs of aborted babies, but are they ready to pull government funding from the group as a majority of U.S. senators attempted recently?

August 5, 2015

Rasmussen Reports Names the Debate Line-Up – Last Week

Fox News announced late yesterday the lineup for the first Republican presidential debate. Rasmussen Reports announced the same lineup last Thursday morning.

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August 4, 2015

The Trump Card By Thomas Sowell

With Hillary Clinton's multiple misdeeds coming to light and causing her political problems, reflected in her declining support in the polls, both she and the Democratic Party have reason to be concerned. But both of them may yet be rescued by "The Donald," who can turn out to be their Trump card.

Donald Trump has virtually no chance of becoming even the Republican Party's candidate in 2016, much less being elected President of the United States.

August 4, 2015

What Do Voters Think of Hillary Clinton’s Energy Plan?

Most voters like Democratic presidential frontrunner Hillary Clinton’s ambitious plan to combat global warming but admit the issue isn’t of high importance to their voting decisions.

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August 4, 2015

Obama Bets Nuclear Deal Will Change Iran's Regime; Few Agree by Michael Barone

Faute de mieux. That means "for want of something better" in Secretary of State John Kerry's second language. It's also the best case made by its journalistic defenders for approval of the nuclear weapons deal Kerry negotiated with Iran. Or to be more exact, for rallying 34 votes in the Senate or 146 votes in the House to uphold a presidential veto of a congressional vote to disapprove.