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June 3, 2015

Santorum, Pataki Are Long Shots for GOP Nod

Former New York Governor George Pataki and Rick Santorum, the one-time Pennsylvania senator who came up short in the 2012 presidential contest, have joined the crowded Republican race for 2016, but GOP voters think they have little chance of capturing their party's presidential nomination.

June 2, 2015

O’Malley Has a Big Sales Job to Democrats Ahead

Former Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley is an even bigger unknown to members of his own party than Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, but both men have a steep hill to climb if they’re going to take next year’s Democratic presidential nomination away from Hillary Clinton.

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June 2, 2015

Why Must Americans Clean Up a Foreign Sport? by Froma Harrop

The competent Loretta Lynch can no doubt handle the job of cleansing professional soccer of widespread corruption. But why is that the U.S. attorney general's job? One must ask.

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June 2, 2015

Is it Time for Civil Disobedience of Kludgeocratic Bureaucracy? By Michael Barone

Is there any way to reverse the trend to ever more intrusive, bossy government? Things have gotten to such a pass, argues Charles Murray, that only civil disobedience might -- might -- work. But the chances are good enough, he says, that he's written a book about it: "By the People: Rebuilding Liberty Without Permission."  

June 2, 2015

Voters Still Question Whether Most Immigrants Want the American Dream

Voters remain overwhelmingly positive about immigrants who work hard to support their families but also still wonder whether that is usually the case these days.

June 1, 2015

28% Say U.S. Heading in Right Direction

Twenty-eight percent (28%) of Likely U.S. Voters now think the country is heading in the right direction, according to a new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey for the week ending May 28.

June 1, 2015

Obama’s Full-Month Job Approval Rating Slips to 2015 Low

When tracking President Obama’s job approval on a daily basis, people sometimes get so caught up in the day-to-day fluctuations that they miss the bigger picture. To look at the longer-term trends, Rasmussen Reports compiles the numbers on a full-month basis, and the results can be seen in the graphics below.

June 1, 2015

Voters Still Say No to Obama’s Amnesty Plan

President Obama’s plan to exempt up to five million illegal immigrants from deportation continues to run into opposition in the court of public opinion, too. Just last week a federal appeals court continued the hold on Obama’s amnesty plan that was first imposed by a judge in February. The next stop is likely to be the U.S. Supreme Court.

May 30, 2015

What They Told Us: Reviewing Last Week’s Key Polls - Week Ending May 30, 2015

Several of the biggest issues facing the nation are in court or on their way there, with many voters hoping judges will do what their elected representatives won’t do.

May 29, 2015

Americans Still Have Very Little Faith in Their Fellow Voters

An overwhelming majority of U.S. voters think voters in democratic countries have a responsibility to stay informed, but most say that’s not the reality in America.

May 29, 2015

Most Democrats Think Illegal Immigrants Should Vote

Are voters ready to let illegal immigrants vote? A sizable number, including most Democrats, are.

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May 29, 2015

Colleges and Universities Have Grown Bloated and Dysfunctional by Michael Barone

American colleges and universities, long thought to be the glory of the nation, are in more than a little trouble. I've written before of their shameful practices -- the racial quotas and preferences at selective schools (Harvard is being sued by Asian-American organizations), the kangaroo courts that try students accused of rape and sexual assault without legal representation or presumption of innocence, and speech codes that make campuses the least rather than the most free venues in American society.

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May 29, 2015

Who Built the Brooklyn Bridge? By Michelle Malkin

How many times have you heard President Obama and his minions pat themselves on the back for their noble "investments" in "roads and bridges"? Without government infrastructure spending, we're incessantly reminded, we wouldn't be able to conduct our daily business.

"Every single great idea that has marked the 21st century, the 20th century and the 19th century has required government vision and government incentive," Vice President Joe Biden infamously asserted. "Private enterprise," he sneered, lags behind.

May 28, 2015

Voters Want More Say In Choosing Their Leaders

While U.S. voters believe they have it better than citizens of other countries, they still don’t think they have enough influence over who gets elected in government.

Sixty-two percent (62%) of Likely U.S. Voters think voters in this country do not have enough say when it comes to choosing their leaders, according to a new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey. Just five percent (5%) believe they have too much say, while 27% feel the level of choice is about right. (To see survey question wording, click here.)

May 28, 2015

Can Obama Change Obamacare Without Congress’ OK?

A federal judge today will hear arguments in a lawsuit that argues the Obama administration violated the Constitution when it changed portions of the new national health care law without Congress’ approval. It’s the first ever lawsuit by the full House of Representatives against a sitting president.

May 28, 2015

Your Rights vs. Your Safety – You Decide

The debate over the Patriot Act and the National Security Agency’s snooping on millions of Americans is all about the balance between national security and individual rights. Similarly, increasing complaints about urban policing have us discussing the conflict between those rights and public safety.

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May 28, 2015

House 2016: Gridlock Ahead for a Possible Clinton Administration By Kyle Kondik

If Hillary Clinton wins the White House, there's a decent chance that she will achieve a historic first, but not the one everybody talks about.

Clinton could become the first Democratic president in the party's nearly two century-long history* to never control the House of Representatives while she's in office.

May 27, 2015

Voters Still Question Supreme Court's Political Biases

Several major rulings are expected heading into the final month of the U.S. Supreme Court’s current term, including ones on same-sex marriage and President Obama's health care law, but few voters think the court is balanced politically.

May 27, 2015

Federal Court Echoes Voters In Halting Obama’s Amnesty

President Obama’s plan to protect up to five million illegal immigrants from deportation has run into more legal trouble. A federal appeals court on Tuesday refused to lift a hold on the president’s executive action, and the next stop is likely to be the U.S. Supreme Court.

Rasmussen Reports surveying finds that more than half of voters remain opposed to Obama’s plan to allow the illegal immigrants to remain in this country and apply for jobs. Opposition has risen since the president announced his action last November.

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May 27, 2015

How the World Has Changed Since World War I By Michael Barone

Over the past year, I've been reading books inspired by the centenary of World War I, a war with horrific casualties painful to contemplate. What helps in comprehending the scale of the slaughter is a book by one of Bill Gates' favorite authors, the Canadian academic Vaclav Smil, "Creating the Twentieth Century: Technical Innovations of 1867-1914 and Their Lasting Impact."

Smil leads the reader through the invention and development of electricity, oil production and distribution, the automobile, steelmaking, the telephone, the airplane and the production of synthetic ammonia -- to his mind the most important because without it agriculture couldn't feed the world's 6 billion people.