One-in-five Americans have now finished their holiday shopping, but one-third of adults haven't even started.
A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 21% of American Adults say they now have finished their holiday gift shopping. That means another 10% have gotten finished in the past two weeks since only 11% were done just after Black Friday.
Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, earning his highest level of support to date, has edged ahead of President Obama in a hypothetical 2012 matchup. The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey of Likely U.S. Voters shows Romney with 45% of the vote to Obama’s 42%.
The national survey of 1,000 Likely Voters was conducted on December 8-9, 2011 by Rasmussen Reports. The margin of sampling error is +/- 3 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence. Field work for all Rasmussen Reports surveys is conducted by Pulse Opinion Research, LLC. See methodology.
Voters rate Newt Gingrich and Mitt Romney evenly when asked which Republican presidential candidate would run strongest against President Obama, but among GOP voters, Gingrich is the clear favorite.
It was a week of risk-taking in the 2012 presidential race.
Barack Obama, his job approval languishing in the low 40s, delivered a much heralded speech in Osawatomie, Kan., framing the choice between the parties in class-warfare terms.
Most voters still want to repeal the national health care law, even though they tend to believe the law won’t force them to change their own health insurance coverage.
The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey shows that 55% of Likely U.S. Voters at least somewhat favor repeal of the health care law passed by Congress in March 2010, while 35% at least somewhat oppose repeal. The intensity remains on the side of the law’s opponents since these findings include 42% who Strongly Favor repeal versus 26% who are Strongly Opposed. (To see survey question wording, click here.)
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The survey of 1,000 Likely Voters was conducted on December 10-11, 2011 by Rasmussen Reports. The margin of sampling error is +/- 3 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence. Field work for all Rasmussen Reports surveys is conducted by Pulse Opinion Research, LLC. See methodology.
Although President Obama changed his holiday vacation plans to push Congress on economic issues, voters have not changed their views of how the president is performing when it comes to the economy.
The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 48% of Likely U.S. Voters rate Obama’s handling of economic issues as poor.
More Americans than ever say they celebrate the upcoming holiday of Christmas as a religious one.
A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 88% of American Adults say they celebrate Christmas, and 81% of this group celebrate it as a religious holiday. Just 16% of those celebrants regard it as a secular holiday.
Maybe it’s the holiday season or maybe it’s an indicator of things to come. Last month, the Rasmussen Employment Index signaled a slight drop in the national unemployment rate, subsequently borne out by government figures. Now consumer and investor confidence are improving.
The Rasmussen Consumer Index, which measures the economic confidence of consumers on a daily basis, is up five points from a month ago. Consumer confidence for the full month of November was the highest it has been since June. Its companion Rasmussen Investor Index, which measures daily confidence among investors, is also up several points from three months ago. Yet more than 60% of both groups believe the country remains in a recession.
Most U.S. voters now believe America’s alliances do more good than harm.
The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey of Likely U.S. Voters shows that 58% think America’s overseas alliances make the country stronger.
The survey of 1,000 Likely Voters was conducted on December 2-3, 2011 by Rasmussen Reports. The margin of sampling error is +/- 3 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence. Field work for all Rasmussen Reports surveys is conducted by Pulse Opinion Research, LLC. See methodology.
Whether Americans celebrate Christmas or not, most are not offended by the type of holiday greeting they receive this time of year.
The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey of American Adults shows that 88% celebrate Christmas, while eight percent (8%) do not.
Americans are growing even less enthusiastic about tax breaks for those who buy alternative-energy cars, and most oppose a proposal to give purchasers of electric cars a $10,000 tax credit to offset the high price of those vehicles. Still, most see a future with a lot more alternative-energy vehicles on the road.
(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.
The survey of 1,000 Adults was conducted on December 5-6, 2011 by Rasmussen Reports. The margin of sampling error is +/- 3 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence. Field work for all Rasmussen Reports surveys is conducted by Pulse Opinion Research, LLC. See methodology.
Most voters now share the pessimistic view that America's best days are behind us.
A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey of Likely U.S. Voters finds that just 32% say the country’s best days are in the future, down five points from late October.
The national survey of 1,000 Likely Voters was conducted on December 4-5, 2011 by Rasmussen Reports. The margin of sampling error is +/- 3 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence. Field work for all Rasmussen Reports surveys is conducted by Pulse Opinion Research, LLC . See methodology.
Will he or won’t he run for the presidency in 2016? Only Vice President Joe Biden knows for sure, refusing to rule out another run for the White House in an interview earlier this month on NBC’s “Today” show. Right now, however, the vice president is earning some of the highest unfavorables since he took office in late January 2009.
Held aloft by the highest approval ratings of any governor in America, Andrew Cuomo scarcely seemed to worry about angering his state's progressives, who were disappointed by his refusal to extend a state surtax on New York's millionaires.
American adults, as they have for years, believe that government workers have it better than those in the private sector.
Although support for former House Speaker Newt Gingrich among Republican primary voters has soared in both national and state polls, he now trails President Obama in a hypothetical 2012 general election matchup.
The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey of Likely Voters finds Obama earning 45% of the vote to Gingrich’s 40%.
The national survey of 1,000 Likely Voters was conducted on December 6-7, 2011 by Rasmussen Reports. The margin of sampling error is +/- 3 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence. Field work for all Rasmussen Reports surveys is conducted by Pulse Opinion Research, LLC. See methodology.
Liberals and conservatives both seem obsessed with the behavior of "the 1 percent," but there the similarity ends. Liberals seek to change the ways of the richest 1 percent, while many conservatives focus on the bottom 1 percent. The latter was on display as Republican Newt Gingrich proposed having poor young people clean their schools. He described them as "children in housing projects." You know who that is.
Current front-runner Newt Gingrich is the latest Republican presidential hopeful to meet with billionaire developer Donald Trump who is scheduled to moderate a GOP debate later this month. But a sizable number of voters think Republican presidential candidates are paying too much attention to Trump, and an overwhelming majority say his endorsement would hurt a candidate in their eyes or have no impact.
(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.
The survey of 1,000 Likely Voters nationwide was conducted on December 6-7, 2011 by Rasmussen Reports. The margin of sampling error is +/- 3 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence. Field work for all Rasmussen Reports surveys is conducted by Pulse Opinion Research, LLC. See methodology.
Conventional wisdom is that the Republican presidential field is set, and that it is much too late for a new candidate to enter the race.
In years past, that would be absolutely correct. Over the last few decades, dozens of primaries and caucuses have been shoe-horned into the opening weeks of the election year, with the tendency on the Republican side for the front-running candidate to score a quick knockout.
One-out-of-four Americans continue to believe the government should manage the U.S. economy. Nearly as many say the government should mind its own business.
A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey shows that 26% of American Adults believe the appropriate role of government is to manage the economy, but 23% say it's better for the government to stay out of economic decisions altogether. However, a plurality(46%) thinks the appropriate role for the government in the economy is to provide programs like unemployment insurance to help people through difficult times.
