Republicans now hold a three-point lead over Democrats on the Generic Congressional Ballot for the week ending May 1, 2011. This is up one point from last week which marked the narrowest gap between the parties since October 2009.
President Obama has received a bounce in support following the killing of Osama bin Laden, and now the gap in voter sentiments over whether he’s doing a good job reaching across the congressional aisle is at its narrowest point in two years of monthly tracking. But voters feel no change in the behavior of either party in Congress.
The number of working poor is at a recent high, but workers in general are expressing slightly more confidence in their short-term earnings.
Voters feel more strongly than ever that U.S. troops should be brought home from Afghanistan right away or a timetable should be set to bring them back within a year.
Some years ago, the columnist and editor Michael Kinsley sponsored a contest to come up with the most boring headline. The winner was, "Worthwhile Canadian Initiative."
Support for repeal of the national health care law has rebounded after falling below 50% for the first time since it was passed by Congress in March of last year.
How small is the California prison population likely to become if Gov. Jerry Brown has his way? In three years, California's prison population would be 20 percent smaller.
For many adults, today’s all about Mom.
It is always a happy moment when Americans are reminded of our country's greatness, especially when we are so often warned about its imminent decline -- and the elimination of Osama bin Laden, fanatical murderer of thousands of Christians, Jews and Muslims, was certainly such a moment.
The killing of Osama bin Laden brought back memories of September 11, 2001 for many, and, just a few months short of the 10th anniversary of those horrendous events, most Americans believe the attacks changed the country for the worse.
Osama bin Laden went down, and President Obama has gone up – in the polls, that is.
These are very tricky times for conservatives in America. For starters, they don't really have a candidate. OK, that's familiar. More unusual: They don't really have an opponent to hate.
A plurality of Americans say high gas prices have had a significant impact on their daily lives and that they are driving less now than they were a year ago.
Even more than the improvement in his overall job approval ratings, grades for President Obama’s national security performance have bounced higher following the weekend killing of Osama bin Laden by U.S. Navy SEALs. But ratings for the president’s handling of economic issues have held relatively steady.
If the recent budget debate has taught Americans anything, it is that the power of the gavel in Congress can be as powerful as the executive pen in the White House. In the blossoming 2012 campaign, we should, therefore, focus not only on the presidential election, but also the elections for Congress.
What did Pakistan know and when did it know it? Americans overwhelmingly believe top Pakistani officials knew Osama bin Laden’s whereabouts and strongly oppose further U.S. aid to the country where the top terrorist was found.
The death of Osama bin Laden, inflicted by crack U.S. Special Forces personnel acting on the orders of President Barack Obama, is undoubtedly a triumph for the embattled commander in chief. But will it provide him tangible political help when he stands for reelection a year and a half from now?
Most voters continue to feel they have very little in common ideologically with the average member of Congress. But Republicans in Congress are now seen as more conservative than they were a month ago.
San Francisco Sheriff Michael Hennessey explained in The San Francisco Chronicle's Sunday Insight his opposition to Secure Communities, the federal program that automatically passes new arrestees' fingerprints to Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The program applies to "everyone booked into a county jail," Hennessey complained -- "even (in) a minor matter, such as having no driver's license in one's possession in a traffic stop."
A plurality of Americans still think 21 is the proper drinking age, but support is up slightly for dropping it to 18. Perhaps not surprisingly, younger adults are more enthusiastic about lowering the drinking age than their elders.
