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January 15, 2011

38% Say America's Best Days Are In The Future

With the start of the New Year, voters are slightly more optimistic about the future of America than they have been for most of 2011. 

A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 38% of Likely Voters say the country's best days are in the future, up from 32% last month and the highest level measured since mid-February of last year.   Forty-four percent (44%) feel America's best days are in the past, while another 18% are not sure.  (To see survey question wording, click here.)

(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 national survey of 1,000 Likely Voters was conducted on January 11-12, 2012 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.

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January 15, 2011

What They Told Us: Reviewing Last Week’s Key Polls - Week Ending January 14, 2011

It’s back to business for the new Congress this coming week following the tragic shooting of Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords and the killing of six others in Arizona. First up in the House is a vote to repeal the national health care bill passed last year by Democrats in the previous Congress.

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January 14, 2011

Just 33% of Football Fans Following NFL Labor Negotiations Closely

No NFL football in 2011?  This is a possibility, but professional football fans don’t appear to be paying much attention and they have mixed feelings on whether it will actually happen.

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January 14, 2011

Patriots Still Favored to Win Super Bowl

Only eight National Football League teams are left heading into this weekend’s divisional playoff round, and the New England Patriots remain the top pick among fans to win the Super Bowl.

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January 14, 2011

75% Want Health Care Law Changed

Voters overwhelmingly want to see last year’s health care law changed, but there is substantial disagreement about how best to do it.

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January 14, 2011

Going Down in an Up Economy By Froma Harrop

In the typical economic downturn, Americans thrown out of work make a deal with Euthenia, the Greek goddess of prosperity. They say (in their heads): We will get through this. We'll move in with family, find any part-time job. All we want is an assurance that good times will eventually return for hardworking people like us.  

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January 14, 2011

55% Say America Is Not Yet A Land of Equal Opportunity

Americans tend to think their fellow citizens talk too much about race, but most agree that we have yet to achieve a level playing field for all races in this country.

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January 14, 2011

Blood Libel By Susan Estrich

Alan Dershowitz isn't offended. He says it's OK for Sarah Palin to invoke one of the most anti-Semitic images of our time in attacking those who have been critical of her putting crosshairs over the name of the congresswoman who was later shot.

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January 14, 2011

How We Enable Crimes of Insanity By Joe Conason

The deranged expression on the face of Jared Lee Loughner in the mug shot released by the police -- taken within hours after he allegedly killed six innocent people and wounded 14 more, including Rep. Gabrielle Giffords -- suggests that we may never fully understand whatever illness afflicts him. The law requires us to assess his mental state and motivations, but we might do better to analyze our own craziness.

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January 13, 2011

Voters Continue To Believe Congress Can Always Make Things Worse

Despite the change of control in the House, voters continue to believe Congress can screw things up worse than they already are.

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January 13, 2011

Most Voters Still See Congressional Democrats As More Liberal Than They Are

Voters continue to believe the average Democrat in Congress is more liberal than they are, but remain more evenly divided about Republicans.

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January 13, 2011

Most Say Stricter Gun Laws Would Not Help Prevent Shootings

Most Americans say stronger gun control laws are not the answer to the shootings last weekend of a U.S. congresswoman and the killing of six others.

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January 13, 2011

Systematic Assassinations Not Part of Our Politics By Michael Barone

The steam seems to be going out of the move to "deftly pin this" -- the shooting of Arizona Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and 13 others -- "on the tea partiers," as one unidentified senior Democratic operative put it to Politico.

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January 13, 2011

No Off Button on Sarah Palin By Debra J. Saunders

This is a free country. If Sarah Palin wants to run for president in 2012, she is free to try. But she will not win the GOP nomination because Republican voters are not going to choose a middle-aged version of Britney Spears -- a figure whose most evident talent is to attract attention to herself -- to challenge Barack Obama. 

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January 13, 2011

Just 29% Believe Health Care Repeal Will Increase Deficit

Some supporters of the national health care law say its repeal will drive up the federal budget deficit, but most voters believe repeal will either reduce or have no impact on government spending and the deficit.

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January 12, 2011

SUCCEEDING IN YOUR BUSINESS: Memo to the Incoming Congress (Part 2 of 2)

Now that we've tackled the economy, here are a few creative solutions to some of the foreign policy problems you will be facing as the 112th Congress gets under way.

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January 12, 2011

26% Say U.S. Heading in Right Direction

Twenty-six percent (26%) of Likely U.S. Voters say the country is heading in the right direction, according to a new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey taken the week ending Sunday, January 9. That's down a point from last week and back to levels found in early December.

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January 12, 2011

One-Third of Americans Have or Will Contribute To Haiti Earthquake Relief

A year ago today, a massive earthquake hit the island of Haiti, killing thousands of people and making thousands more homeless. One-in-three Americans (32%) say they have contributed or will contribute to help the ongoing relief effort there, according to a new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey.

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January 12, 2011

57% Expect Higher Interest Rates A Year From Now

The number of adults nationwide who expect a rise in interest rates has reached its highest level in nearly two years.

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January 12, 2011

The Blame Game By Susan Estrich

Within an hour of the tragic shooting in Arizona, it had begun. The Blame Game. The effort to score political points.

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