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May 20, 2015

Americans Remain Dubious About Driverless Cars

Google admits its new driverless cars have had a few minor accidents but says the latest model will be ready for the road as early as this summer. Americans are a bit more likely to consider buying a driverless car these days but are still not convinced they will make the roads safer.

May 19, 2015

46% Want Stephanopoulos Banned From Campaign Coverage

George Stephanopoulos, a senior ABC News anchor, was caught last week hiding $75,000 in donations to the Bill and Hillary Clinton Foundation just after he grilled on air the author of a book critical of the foundation and Mrs. Clinton. He also was scheduled to moderate a presidential campaign debate before the media found out about the donations.

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May 19, 2015

Death Penalty for Tsarnaev Hurts Boston By Froma Harrop

Why was 21-year-old Dzhokhar Tsarnaev sentenced to die in a state so generally opposed to capital punishment? A recent Boston Globe poll found that only 19 percent of Massachusetts residents wanted the Boston Marathon bomber put to death. The state hasn't seen an execution since 1947.

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May 19, 2015

The Two-Point-Something Campaign by Michael Barone

This spring it seems as if there have been two-point-something Republican presidential candidacy announcements per week. And, since she made her own announcement April 12, Hillary Clinton has answered an average of about two-point-something questions from the press each week.

May 19, 2015

After Amtrak Crash, Most Still Consider Mass Transit Safe

Few Americans say they use mass transit regularly, but they remain confident in its safety despite the recent Amtrak train derailment near Philadelphia that killed eight people. Most also don't feel more government spending on infrastructure will help prevent such crashes.

May 18, 2015

29% Think U.S. Heading in Right Direction

Twenty-nine percent (29%) 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 14.

May 18, 2015

Most Think Iraq War A Major Voting Issue

Jeb Bush, a likely Republican presidential contender, stumbled last week when asked if he would have invaded Iraq in 2003 like his brother, President George W. Bush, did. Voters are closely divided over whether the president made the right decision 12 years ago, and most still consider the Iraq war an important voting issue.

May 18, 2015

More Voters See Need for U.S. To Be World's Top Cop

In his first major foreign policy speech since announcing his run for president, Senator Marco Rubio of Florida echoed the views of some of his Republican competitors that America must renew its military and moral leadership but stopped short of saying it should be the world’s policeman. More voters than ever think the U.S. military is overstretched these days, but slightly more also think America has a responsibility to maintain order globally.

May 16, 2015

What They Told Us: Reviewing Last Week’s Key Polls - Week Ending May 16, 2015

Proposals on how to deal with the nation’s illegal immigration problem come in a variety of forms.

May 15, 2015

Generic Congressional Ballot: Republicans 38%, Democrats 38%

Republicans and Democrats remain tied on the latest Generic Congressional Ballot.

May 15, 2015

Voters Say Yes to Deepwater Drilling, Maybe in the Gulf

Five years ago, the nation was focused on the disastrous BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, and now the federal government has given the okay for deepwater drilling to resume nearby. Voters are closely divided on the wisdom of this decision, but most still favor deepwater drilling in general.

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May 15, 2015

British Pollsters Failed in the Increasingly Difficult Struggle to Get it Right by Michael Barone

The world may have a polling problem. That's the headline on a blogpost by Nate Silver, the wunderkind founder of FiveThirthyEight. It was posted on 9:54 ET the night of May 7, as the counting in the British election was continuing in the small hours of May 8 UK Time.

May 15, 2015

Is A College Degree Really Worth What You Pay?

More Americans think it's a good idea for everyone to get additional schooling after high school, even though they're less convinced than they were several years ago that a college degree is worth what you pay for it.

May 14, 2015

39% Say Patriots Should Forfeit Super Bowl Win Over 'Deflategate'

A sizable number of Americans don't feel the penalties lodged against Quarterback Tom Brady and the New England Patriots for their use of deflated footballs in a championship game earlier this year are harsh enough and think the team should be stripped of its latest Super Bowl championship.

May 14, 2015

What If Michelle Obama Challenged Hillary Clinton for the Democratic Nomination?

Michelle Obama for president? What if she ran against the seemingly impregnable Hillary Clinton?

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May 14, 2015

The Left Is So Wrong on Trade By Froma Harrop

The left's success in denying President Obama fast-track authority to negotiate the Trans-Pacific Partnership is ugly to behold. The case put forth by a showboating Sen. Elizabeth Warren -- that Obama cannot be trusted to make a deal in the interests of American workers -- is almost worse than wrong. It is irrelevant.

The Senate Democrats who turned on Obama are playing a 78 rpm record in the age of digital downloads.

May 14, 2015

Most Voters Still Approve of Military Service for Illegal Immigrants

Congress is debating whether to encourage illegal immigrants to join the military as a path to citizenship, and most voters continue to think that's a good idea.

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May 14, 2015

Democrats 2016: Sanders Now Clinton's Chief Rival By Geoffrey Skelley

“Inevitable.” That’s the word often used to describe Hillary Clinton and the 2016 Democratic nomination. Can anyone beat her? Anything’s possible, but the odds appear quite low. Still, her most threatening intraparty opposition could prove to be a man who isn’t even technically a Democrat (yet, anyway): independent Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, a self-identified “democratic socialist.” We see him as a potential thorn in Clinton’s side, and to reflect that, we are moving Sanders to the top of the non-Clinton tier in our presidential rankings for Democrats.

May 13, 2015

U.S. Voters Still Strongly Dislike Putin

Secretary of State John Kerry visited Russia this week for the first time since the Ukraine crisis began last year to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin and other top officials. Negative opinions of Putin remain high among U.S. voters.