When given a choice between Barack Obama and John McCain for President, 14% of voters are uncommitted. That figure includes 6% who say they’d vote for some other candidate and 8% who are undecided.
With taxes front and center this week in the U.S. presidential campaign, 50% of Americans still see tax increases as bad for the economy and an identical percentage favor a tax policy focused on economic growth rather than fairness.
Voters are nearly evenly divided on which is more important– cracking down on speculators or lifting the ban on offshore drilling -- as the debate comes to a head in Congress this week over how to fight rising gas and oil prices. As far as public opinion is concerned, the best answer would be to do both.
CBS News’ beleaguered anchor Katie Couric says sexism is more common and more acceptable in society than racism, but voters do not agree.
When it comes to whom voters like among Barack Obama’s possible running mates, it’s all about the also-rans. A new Rasmussen Reports national survey finds that 56% have at least a somewhat favorable opinion of former North Carolina Senator John Edwards, including 21% who view him Very favorably.
John McCain’s camp signaled last week that the Republican might name a running mate to deflect some of the media glare from Barack Obama’s overseas trip, but ultimately no names were announced. Meanwhile, at least one of the key contenders for the job, Governor Bobby Jindal of Louisiana, announced that he is not interested.
Barack Obama was the political news this week, despite John McCain’s best efforts to get some of the media focus directed his way.
Just over half of all voters (51%) approve of President Bush’s decision to attend the Opening Ceremony, while 22% disapprove. Men are slightly more likely to approve of the President’s decision than women.
Despite growing confidence that the U.S. and its allies are winning the war on terror, most Americans (52%) still believe it’s more important for the next president to bring the troops home from Iraq than win the war there.
Over half of Americans (55%) rate Barack Obama’s historic speech in Berlin yesterday good or excellent, and the Democratic presidential candidate is experiencing a modest bounce over John McCain nationally in the latest Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll.
Voters who have served in the U.S. military favor John McCain over Barack Obama by a 56% to 37% margin.
Most Americans believe suspected terrorists should be tried by military tribunals rather than in U.S. courts, as the first such trial began this week at the Guantanamo Naval Base in Cuba.
While Barack Obama has touted his travel to the Middle East and Europe this week as a “fact-finding” trip, 63% of Americans do not believe it makes the Democratic candidate any more qualified to be president.
With Washington abuzz over speculation that John McCain will announce his running mate this week to take some of the focus off Barack Obama’s overseas travels, over a third of U.S. voters say Mitt Romney will be the Republican vice presidential candidate.
The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey found that 63% of Americans want the troops brought home from Iraq within a year.
Only 33% of American voters believe Al Gore’s proposal to switch all of the nation's electricity production to wind, solar and other carbon-free sources in 10 years is realistic. And, beyond the Democratic Party base, most voters think Gore’s plan will make energy prices go up.
The idea that reporters are trying to help Obama win in November has grown by five percentage points over the past month. The latest Rasmussen Reports telephone survey, taken just before the new controversy involving the New York Times erupted, found that 49% of voters believe most reporters will try to help the Democrat with their coverage, up from 44% a month ago.
Forty-two percent (42%) of Americans say that if Israel launches an attack against Iran, the United States should help Israel. The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey found that 46% believe the United States should do nothing while just 1% believe the U.S. should help Iran.
Is the U.S. winning the war on terror? Nearly half of Americans said yes this past week while only 20% gave the nod to the terrorists, a dramatic improvement over the past year and the most positive margin we’ve recorded since Rasmussen Reports began tracking on the issue in January 2004.
Even as a growing number of Americans appear to believe the United States is finally winning the war on terror, a new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey shows that nearly half (48%) agree with Barack Obama that Iraq is not the central front in that war.
