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May 25, 2011

Mideast Communications Chaos By Tony Blankley

The president's speech last week, which was described by the White House in advance as a speech intended to reach out to the Muslim world, will probably go down as one of the least well-understood major presidential speeches in modern memory.

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May 24, 2011

Obama 45%, Generic Republican 44%

For the third week in a row, voters remain almost evenly divided over whether they want to reelect President Obama or elect a Republican to replace him.

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May 24, 2011

40% Say Scotty McCreery Will Win 'American Idol'

The 10th season of "American Idol" is about to come to an end this week, and a plurality of viewers think 17-year-old Scotty McCreery should win - and will win - the competition.

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May 24, 2011

63% Say Japanese Earthquake Will Hurt U.S. Economy

Less than two months after Japan’s devastating earthquake and tsunami, Americans remain strongly concerned that the disaster will hurt the U.S. economy, although the number concerned has fallen slightly from last month.

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May 24, 2011

47% See Major Changes in Defense, Social Security, Medicare As Necessary to Big Budget Cuts, 36% Don’t

Most voters know they want to cut government spending in a serious way, but despite the ongoing national budget-cutting debate, they don’t seem to recognize what that’s going to take.

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May 24, 2011

Supreme Court's Scary Power Grab By Debra J. Saunders

The U.S. Supreme Court effectively ordered California on Monday to release 33,000 inmates over two years from an in-state prison population that numbers about 143,000.

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May 24, 2011

Playing Chicken With Full Faith and Credit By Froma Harrop

New polling by Rasmussen shows voters highly conflicted over which party to blame for our economic troubles and which is best able to end them. But Americans agree on one thing: The economy is lousy. And from that, we can reasonably deduce that they don't want a lousier economy.

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May 24, 2011

74% Favor Banning Regulators From Working For Those They Regulate For At Least Five Years

Americans overwhelmingly believe that government regulators should be banned from working for companies they regulate for at least five years. A sizable number also think companies that offer jobs to regulators should be banned from doing business with the government altogether.

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May 24, 2011

A Securities Law Primer for Startups (Part 1 of 2) By Cliff Ennico

"Some friends of mine and I are forming a limited liability company to develop and market a mobile phone software application. There are 12 of us in total, and we live in three different states. Five of us will be developing the product in our spare time without putting in any money. Three of us just want to put in money without getting involved in running the company, while the remaining four will be putting in money as well as doing some consulting work to develop and market the product. Our lawyer has told us we will have problems setting up this company because of the federal securities laws. Say what? We're only looking to raise about $25,000."  

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May 23, 2011

Generic Congressional Ballot: Republicans 42%, Democrats 40%

Republicans hold a two-point lead over Democrats on the Generic Congressional Ballot for the week ending May 22, 2011. That's down five points from last week and ties the smallest gap between the parties since October 2009.

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May 23, 2011

Rasmussen Reports To Develop Programming With Telco Productions

Santa Monica, CA -Telco Productions, Inc. has partnered with national pollster Scott Rasmussen and his electronic media company, Rasmussen Reports, to develop news programming for syndication.

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May 23, 2011

50% Say Congress Doing A Poor Job

While members of Congress wrestle over reducing the historic-level federal budget deficit, the number of voters who give them positive marks for their job performance has tied the lowest level ever - for the second month in a row. Their poor marks, however, remain slightly less abysmal than they were last year.

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May 23, 2011

51% Think It’s Bribery When A Company Offers A Government Regulator A Job

The “revolving door” is a standard feature in Washington, D.C., with people regularly going back and forth between government and private industry jobs. The practice raises conflict-of-interest questions but is generally quite legal. Voters, however, think it smacks of bribery.

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May 23, 2011

Support for Phasing Out U.S. Nuclear Plants Down to 29%

Japan continues to deal with the aftermath of the devastating earthquake and tsunami in March that caused an historic-level nuclear disaster. With problems continuing at the Fukushima nuclear plant, Americans remain concerned about nuclear power plant safety at home but aren’t quite ready to phase out those plants just yet.

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May 23, 2011

Obama Channels W. Except on Israel and Palestinians By Michael Barone

"The State Department is a fitting venue," declared Barack Obama at the beginning of his speech on the Middle East last Thursday.

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May 23, 2011

51% Favor Repeal of Health Care Law, 42% Think Repeal Is Likely

Most voters still want to repeal the national health care law but are now evenly divided over the likelihood of the controversial measure actually being repealed.

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May 22, 2011

Only 8% Rate National Security as Top Voting Issue

Just eight percent (8%) of voters nationwide currently rate national security issues such as the War on Terror as their top voting issue. That’s down from 20% on Election Day 2008 when Barack Obama was elected and down from 41% on Election Day 2004 when George W. Bush was reelected.

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May 21, 2011

75% Say Oprah Has Been Influential in Shaping Public Perceptions

Oprah Winfrey’s television talk show is coming to a close after a 25-year run, and the vast majority of Americans believe she’s been influential in shaping public opinion.

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May 21, 2011

Women on Trial By Susan Estrich

Shame on The New York Times. A housekeeper gets pregnant by the famous and powerful man for whom she works. For 10 years, she continues to work in the home and never says a word. After 20 years of service, she retires and buys a house 100 miles away to raise her son.

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May 21, 2011

What They Told Us: Reviewing Last Week’s Key Polls - Week Ending May 21, 2011

There was more muddle in the Middle East as the week came to a close.