When his tenure at the investment firm Bain Capital became an issue in the race for the Republican presidential nomination, Mitt Romney responded by saying he "was disappointed ... to see one of my opponents attacking free enterprise, just like the president was.”
The race for the 2012 GOP nomination has been properly characterized as one between two candidates: Mitt Romney and Nott Romney. Some describe it as a rift between the party establishment favoring Romney and the party base looking for someone else.
Scott Rasmussen takes a look at what the polling in Iowa suggests for today's caucuses and why polling for a caucus is much more difficult than polling for a primary or general election.
Following the roller-coaster poll results from Iowa has been entertaining for some - and frustrating for many. In five consecutive Rasmussen Reports polls, five different candidates came out on top: Michele Bachmann, Rick Perry, Herman Cain, Newt Gingrich and now Mitt Romney. Adding to the confusion, most Iowa voters are still deciding and could change their mind before the January 3 caucuses.
Over the years, the daily tracking of the Rasmussen Consumer Index has shown that a single factor generally tends to drive consumer confidence. In the wake of the 9/11 terror attacks, national security was the primary factor moving consumer confidence. At other times, it has been things like job creation or gas prices.
In recent national polling about the situation in Wisconsin, Rasmussen Reports and Quinnipiac found a slight plurality in favor of Governor Scott Walker and his efforts, the Pew Center found a plurality opposed, and Gallup and the New York Times reported strong opposition.
The politics of President Obama’s health care law have been fascinating from the start. Hailed as fulfillment of a popular campaign promise when introduced, the law proved to be a major drag on Democrats in the 2010 election. An issue on which Democrats once overwhelmingly trusted Democrats over Republicans has become a toss-up between the parties as 2011 approaches.
Back in December 2009, a full 11 months before Election Day, a Democratic strategist concluded that if the Rasmussen Reports Generic Congressional Ballot data was accurate, Republicans would gain 62 seats in the House during the 2010 elections.
You know it’s a strange new world when Gary Langer, the director of polling at ABC, attacks a Democratic polling firm. By the way, the good folks at Public Policy Polling (PPP) took the attack in stride. The firm's Tom Jensen noted that “one of the most amusing things Langer and others in his cohort claim is that polls should not be judged by their accuracy.”
Two weeks ago, Rasmussen Reports released a poll showing that Republican challenger Scott Brown had closed the gap in Massachusetts to single digits.
On the surface, three recent polls on the upcoming Massachusetts special election to fill the Senate seat of the late Edward M. Kennedy seem to tell three different stories.
As Barack Obama’s administration reaches the 100-day mark, partisans and ideologues on both sides are spinning furiously to define what has happened so far and what it means going forward.
If the U.S. economy improves, it seems safe to assume that will be good for President Obama’s job approval ratings. It will probably help congressional ratings as well.
To be relevant in politics, you need either formal power or a lot of people willing to follow your lead. The governing Republicans in the nation’s capital have lost both on their continuing path to irrelevance.
Voters opposed bailouts for both the auto industry and the financial industry, but the federal government provided support for both. Some critics—particularly those who favor the auto industry—have noted that the terms and tone of the bailouts were markedly different, however.
A number of polling firms routinely measure the president’s job approval ratings. Generally, they all show a similar trend even when the specific numbers are different.
The popularity of newly elected President Barack Obama combined with the willingness of most voters to give him the benefit of the doubt is a powerful political force working in favor of the economic rescue plan now being debated on Capitol Hill.
Something shifted in the political dialogue last week when the House version of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act failed to pick up a single Republican vote.
Public support for the economic recovery plan working its way through Congress is modest, but the proposal is likely to pass for a very simple reason: Voters want to give President Obama the benefit of the doubt.
John McCain needs a couple breaks if he's going to make the presidential race competitive down to the wire.
