The chairmen of President Obama’s bipartisan deficit reduction commission released draft proposals Wednesday that included plans for tax increases and spending cuts for entitlement programs that drew sharp criticism from both sides of the political aisle.Americans are now a bit less sure as to whether the commission will push more tax hikes or more spending cuts in order to reduce the deficit.
Looking at the future, most voters think investing in renewable energy sources, like wind and solar, is a better long-term investment for America than investing in fossil fuels.
As George W. Bush tours the country promoting his new memoir, “Decision Points,” voters are a bit less critical of the former president than they’ve been in previous years.
Voters continue to favor repeal of the new national health care plan, and most continue to believe the law will be bad for the country overall.
George W. Bush is sitting on a hotel sofa in front of a south-facing window on a sunny November morning. His presidential memoir, "Decision Points," is No. 1 on amazon.com and is expected to be No. 1 on the New York Times bestseller list. "I've got a very comfortable life," he says.
When looking for a car, adults nationwide now say buying American-made is as important as finding the best deal.
The draft deficit-reduction proposal released last week by former Clinton White House Chief of Staff Erskine Bowles and retired GOP Sen. Alan Simpson of Wyoming -- the co-chairmen of President Obama's bipartisan commission on reducing the national debt -- has the feel of what two wonks might draw up on cocktail napkins in a bar. It's a bit too easy for two unelected guys to hash out a plan that tells other people what they have to give up -- just to be fair.
When it comes to purchasing products, Americans want their goods home-grown.
Now that the elections are behind us, 76% of voters think it’s at least somewhat likely that the outgoing Congress will try to pass major legislation during a lame-duck session before the newly elected Members of Congress take office. While most expect them to try, just 36% believe they should.
I can't quite remember certain things that happened in college, particularly during my junior year "abroad" at Dartmouth. I'm sure some of that is age (in this case, a rare blessing), but the larger part is that I don't want to remember. And I can't imagine wanting anyone else to, either, at least not with any greater accuracy than their equally limited memory should allow.
Most new members of the U.S. Senate and House won’t be seated until two months after their election, and a plurality of Americans think that’s too long a time.
A plurality of voters continues to believe that the country’s economy will benefit from free trade, but they also think it will stunt job growth.
A majority of voters see the possibility of big things from the new Congress in the early going next year.
For political junkies of a certain age, it was a given that the House of Representatives would always be controlled by Democrats. They won the chamber in 1954 and held on for 40 years -- more than twice as long as any party in American history had before.
As President Obama and his staff consider delaying the withdrawal date for U.S. troops in Afghanistan, voters remain pessimistic about the longest-lasting conflict in American history.
The wreckage of the Democratic Party is strewn just about everywhere. President Obama’s carefully constructed 2008 Electoral College breakthrough is now just broken, a long-ago memory of what might have been a lasting shift in partisan alignment.
The great Bernanke QE2 debate continues to heat up. In the run-up to the G-20 meetings, China, Russia, Germany and others have all come out against the Federal Reserve's quantitative-easing agenda. They don't want hot-money excess dollars to flow into their higher-yielding currencies.
Video game consumers and retailers have been abuzz about the newest in a line of military-inspired video games which market to people of all ages. But most Americans think violent video games like this contribute to violence in society.
While voters tend to disapprove of the way President Obama is dealing with the country's economic problems, they remain more positive about his handling of foreign policy.
A plurality of voters nationwide continues to believe the U.S. situation in Afghanistan will get worse in the next six months.
