Those Confident That America’s Best Days Lie Ahead Down to 31%
Voter confidence that the nation’s best days are still to come has fallen to its lowest level ever.
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April 25, 2011
April 25, 2011
50% Recognize Official Debt Ceiling Figures Understate the Problem
Voters aren’t sure about the short-term implications of the debt ceiling debate, but they recognize that the official figures understate the magnitude of the problem.
April 25, 2011
53% Favor Health Care Repeal, Think Law Will Increase Deficit
Most voters still favor repeal of the national health care law and believe it will drive up the federal deficit even as President Obama and Congress are stepping up the debate on how to cut the government’s massive debt.
April 25, 2011
The Death of the 'Defined Benefit' By Michael Barone
The defined benefit is dying. Barack Obama is struggling to keep it alive, but it's apparent that it's something that even as bounteously rich a society as ours can't afford.
April 24, 2011
44% See Easter As One of Nation’s Most Important Holidays
It’s Easter Sunday, and 80% of Americans will have some sort of a family meal to celebrate the occasion.
April 24, 2011
Cult of 'Three Cups of Tea' Should Have Known Better By Debra J. Saunders
The first tip-off that Greg Mortenson's memoir "Three Cups of Tea" has some credibility issues comes in the book's introduction. Co-author David Oliver Relin writes that as Mortenson is flying over Pakistan, the helicopter pilot marvels to Mortenson, "I've been flying in northern Pakistan for 40 years. How is it you know the terrain better than me?"
April 23, 2011
Americans Send Mixed Signals On Online Gambling
The Justice Department recently cracked down on three top online poker websites, but Americans still appear to have more faith in the private sector than in the government when it comes to gambling on the Internet.
April 23, 2011
What They Told Us: Reviewing Last Week’s Key Polls - Week Ending April 22, 2011
It was a week for looking back, but when Americans did look ahead, they didn’t like much of what they saw.
April 22, 2011
78% Believe Jesus Christ Was the Son of God
Today is the day Christians remember the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, who 78% of all Americans believe to be the son of God who came to Earth to die for our sins.
April 22, 2011
55% Say U.S. Military Involvement in Libya Unlikely To End This Year
Most voters now expect the U.S. military’s role in Libya to last beyond this year.
April 22, 2011
The Trouble With Trump By Joe Conason
Everything we really need to know about the character of Donald Trump was revealed when the wannabe president frivolously accused Barack Obama's late grandparents of committing fraud with his birth announcement. Trump told CNN that they had placed the Aug. 13, 1961, announcement in the Honolulu Advertiser because they wanted to get "welfare" and other benefits. But this casual falsehood revealed only the tiniest hint of the truth about Trump that Americans will discover if he actually runs for the White House.
April 22, 2011
The Map: The Crystal Ball's First 2011 Take on 2012's Electoral College By Larry J. Sabato and the Crystal Ball Team
With 18 months to go until November 2012, there is exactly one use for a current projection of the 2012 Electoral College results. This is merely a baseline from which we can judge more reliable projections made closer to the election. Where did we start--before we knew the identity of the Republican nominee for president, the state of the economy in fall 2012 and many other critical facts?
April 22, 2011
38% Say Earth Day Has Helped Raise Environmental Awareness
Today marks the 42nd year that Earth Day has been celebrated, but Americans are closely divided over whether the informal annual holiday has raised the environmental consciousness of their fellow countrymen.
April 22, 2011
South By Southwest By Kyle Kondik
The classic Alfred Hitchcock thriller "North by Northwest" contains a few of Hollywood's most memorable--and ludicrous--sequences, including a famous scene in which our hero, played by Cary Grant, finds himself being shot at by a crop duster at a bus stop near a cornfield.
April 21, 2011
27% Call Americans Selfish For Putting Economy Ahead of Global Warming
Americans still don’t think they are being selfish for placing their economic concerns ahead of the fight against climate change. But they strongly believe improving the environment occurs on a personal level.
April 21, 2011
Just 9% Give Congress Good or Excellent Ratings
As members of Congress and the president haggle over ways to reduce the federal budget deficit, ratings for the bicameral legislature have fallen to the lowest level since late 2009.
April 21, 2011
Voters Remain Closely Divided Over Libya
Support for continuing U.S. military operations in Libya is holding steady from two weeks ago after a drop-off in support from just after the mission began. But voters remain almost evenly divided over U.S. military involvement in the Libyan political crisis.
April 21, 2011
Curbing Medicare Costs Without Vouchers By Froma Harrop
About 10 years ago, a new radiation treatment for prostate cancer came on line. A single course of "intensity-modulated radiation therapy" cost Medicare about $42,000. The older radiation therapy cost $10,000. Hospitals bought the new machines and stopped using the traditional method. This tacked another $1.5 billion per year to Medicare spending on prostate cancer alone.
April 21, 2011
No Poking President at Facebook By Debra J. Saunders
Last year, when President Obama wanted to convince Americans that his policies were paying off and creating jobs, he visited a solar-panel plant in Fremont, Calif. "The true engine of economic growth will always be companies like Solyndra," quoth the president.
April 21, 2011
41% Support Internet Poker, 42% Oppose
Most Americans have no problem with money on the table in a friendly game of poker but have decidedly mixed feelings if that game is shifted to the Internet.
