Americans remain opposed to further government regulation of the U.S. financial system, even as President Obama and congressional Democrats move closer to passage of legislation that will give the government more oversight than ever.
President Obama hopes to use money still unspent from the $787-billion economic stimulus plan to fight the nation’s 10% unemployment rate, and one of the ideas on the table is to channel money to states to keep them from laying off public employees.
Support for a free market economy remains strong despite the extended recession and last fall’s Wall Street meltdown.
Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood recently floated the idea of increasing the federal tax on gasoline as a way to meet Congress’ growing list of transportation projects, but most Americans are cool to the idea.
Despite President Obama’s highly-publicized jobs summit late last week and a slight drop in the national unemployment rate to 10%, Americans remain pessimistic about the jobs situation.
Federal Reserve Board Chairman Ben Bernanke on Thursday voiced his opposition to legislation calling for regular audits of the Fed’s monetary policies, but 79% of Americans think auditing the Fed is a good idea.
Ben Bernanke begins the formal process tomorrow for confirmation to a second term as chairman of the Federal Reserve Board, but 41% of Americans think President Obama should name someone new to the post.
For many Americans, a house still doesn’t look like a safe bet for a home.
Economic confidence among America's small business owners plummeted in November, as more owners cited serious concerns about cash flow and saw economic conditions for their own businesses getting worse. The Discover(R) Small Business Watch(SM)index fell 12 points in November to 76.5 from 88.5 in October.
After three months of gains, the Rasmussen Employment Index dropped more than four points in November to its lowest level since July.
October’s exuberance over the housing market appears to have fallen back to the levels seen for much of this year, while long-term confidence appears to be trending down.
Voters are a bit more skeptical this month about the $787-billion economic stimulus plan, but overall views of the stimulus have remained largely unchanged since President Obama signed it into law in February.
Forty-two percent (42%) of Americans say Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner has done a poor job handling the credit crisis and federal bailout programs, according to a new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey.
Data from Rasmussen Reports national telephone surveys shows that 15.0% of Democrats in the workforce are currently unemployed and looking for a job. Among adults not affiliated with either major party, that number is 15.6% while just 9.9% of Republicans are in the same situation.
As the policy debate has unfolded in Washington this year, voters have consistently believed that tax cuts would do more than increased government spending to stimulate the economy and create jobs. Now that the nation’s unemployment rate has reached 10.2%, voters continue to hold that view.
The card made me do it, or so most Americans say.
Fifty percent (50%) of Americans say interest rates on their credit cards have been raised in the past six months, as Congress seeks to limit the ability of banks to raise those rates.
Twenty-six percent (26%) of employed adults say they have seriously thought that someone in their workplace was capable of mass violence, according to the latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey.
Most Americans favor extending unemployment benefits for an additional 20 weeks.
Most Americans like the idea of providing tax credits for first-time home buyers but are less enthusiastic when the price tag is included. They strongly oppose expanding it to existing homeowners, although Congress did just that this week.
