What They Told Us: Reviewing Last Week’s Key Polls - Week Ending September 17, 2016

Why do we vote the way we do?

When Americans vote for a president, they say issues are more important than the candidate’s political party.  Most also continue to say they vote more with their head than with their heart.

But what are some of the voter intangibles?

The percentage who consider a candidate’s religious faith important to their vote continues to decline. Voters put even less stock in a candidate’s appearance or racial background.

Voters strongly agree that a candidate’s health is an important voting issue. While Democrats insist they aren’t worried about Hillary Clinton’s health, most other voters feel she may not be physically up to the job.

Clinton is back on the campaign trail after several days of rest, but are concerns over her health changing the equation? Donald Trump has once again edged ahead of Clinton in our latest weekly White House Watch survey after trailing her by four points a week ago.

The confused manner in which Clinton’s campaign put out information about her health following her collapse last Sunday at a 9/11 commemorative event unfortunately feeds the continuing narrative questioning her honesty.

After all, an overwhelming majority of voters continues to believe politicians don’t keep their campaign promises and are even more convinced it’s because they’ll say whatever it takes to get elected.

Suppose the unthinkable took place, and Clinton was forced for health reasons to step down as the Democratic presidential nominee. Who do Democrats think should take her place?

The Obama administration has expressed alarm about dangers to our election system from foreign hackers, and online voting is seen as perhaps the most vulnerable to attack. Most voters still don’t like the idea of voting via the internet and think it’s easier to corrupt than other voting methods.

Despite continued poor ratings for its performance, voters are slightly less in favor of voting to get rid of the entire Congress. Incumbents sure aren’t popular on the home front, though.

President Obama, on the other hand, continues to earn better-than-average daily job approval ratings in the closing months of his presidency.

Still, Americans continue to question the country’s safety from terrorism and are skeptical of the government’s ability to prevent domestic terror attacks in the future.

Two-out-of-three Americans view political correctness as a threat and say they don't have freedom of speech anymore.

In other surveys last week:

-- Thirty percent (30%) of Likely U.S. Voters think the country is heading in the right direction.

-- Concern about North Korea is on the rise following the communist regime's latest nuclear tests.

-- In hopes of improving student performance, some elementary and secondary schools are adopting a no-homework policy, coupled with extending the school day to allow time to finish all work in class. But most parents aren't sure that's the way to go.

Subscribers to Rasmussen Reports receive exclusive stories each week for less than a dollar a week. Please sign up now. Visit the Rasmussen Reports home page for the latest current polling coverage of events in the news. The page is updated several times each day.

Remember, if it's in the news, it's in our polls.