West Virginia Democratic Presidential Primary Results

In yesterday’s Democratic primary in West Virginia, Keith Russell Judd, an inmate in a federal prison in Beaumont, TX serving a 17-year sentence, scored a whopping 40% of the vote against President Obama.  This clearly suggests that the once heavily Democratic West Virginia will be a solid state for Mitt Romney in the general election, as [...]

 

Why the Media Silence on Operation Fast and Furious?

It wouldn’t be surprising if you missed it, but the White House is refusing to allow a Congressional Committee access to a key witness in the ongoing probe into Operation Fast and Furious. Operation Fast and Furious is, of course, the incredibly stupid policy of letting automatic weapons find their way into the hands of [...]

 

Interpretting Expectations and Wishing on the Wrong Star

Always worth a read, Chris Cillizza had some things to say earlier this week about Gallup’s weekly Economic Confidence Index and how that bodes well for the president.  While Cillizza makes a restrained case for White House exuberance, there are several indicators out there that show the White House still has a long way to [...]

 

The Hill – Republican Contenders Ese High Court Hearing to Blast President, Each Other

 By Josh Lederman – 03/26/12 08:46 PM ET The Republican presidential contenders seized Monday’s Supreme Court hearing as a ready-made opportunity to bash President Obama — and each other. Rick Santorum, who is struggling to keep momentum in his campaign, made the highest-profile play to capitalize on the first day of arguments, traveling to Washington [...]

 

President Approval Rating Still Upside Down

President Obama continues to have dismal approval ratings, as 43% of Americans approve of the job he is doing, while 48% disapprove of his job performance as President.  Here’s the lasted Gallup chart that tracks daily the President’s job approval rating.   % Approve % Disapprove 03/3-5/2012 43% 48% 03/2-4/2012 45% 48% 03/1-3/2012 48% 46% [...]

 

Polarization and Politics

Chris Cillizza and Aaron Blake over at The Fix posted an interesting analysis of Gallup data showing that opinions of Barack Obama are the most polarized by political party of any President at this point in his term in recent history.  George W. Bush was second at this point in his presidency and also had [...]

 

Fancy Speech Mr. President, But the Public Doesn’t Buy It

Americans’ worries about maintaining their standard of living (51%), or being able to pay medical bills (43%) or losing their job (34%) in the next 12 months are among the highest Gallup has measured in the past 20 years, on par with the levels seen in 1991 and 1992. These results are based on a [...]

 

US Economic Confidence Levels Off

The Gallup U.S. Economic Confidence Index remains near its seven-month high at -29 in the week ending Jan. 15, similar to -27 the prior week. However, economic confidence continues to trail the -19 of a year ago. The Gallup Economic Confidence Index is an average of two components: Americans’ ratings of current economic conditions and [...]

 

Resetting the Presidential Race: Obama Vulnerability

It is now less than 11 months until American voters will pick our next (and hopefully new) President.  While most of the stories you’ll read are, rightly, about the Republican nominating contests, the fundamentals of the general elections are taking shape around us every day and worth an examination. So let’s take a look at [...]

 

Whistling Past the Graveyard: Obama’s Swing State Bus Tour Ignores His Real Problems.

President Obama is on the road again. Never missing an opportunity to waste taxpayer dollars in an increasingly desperate effort to get a second term, Obama will take his “pass this bill/it’s not my fault” tour to Virginia and North Carolina this week. That certainly makes sense as both are traditional swing states that Obama [...]

 

Another Broken Fiscal Promise

First we were promised that the stimulus bill would save or create 3.5 million jobs and keep unemployment under 8%.  As it turned out, we lost 1.5 million jobs and saw the unemployment rate exceed 10%. After spending $821 billion on the stimulus, President Obama promised that his next big ticket piece of legislation, ObamaCare, [...]

 

President’s Job Approval Continues Downward

President Obama Job Approval Polling Data Poll Date Sample Approve Disapprove Spread RCP Average 9/22 – 10/11 – 42.7 50.8 -8.1 Rasmussen Reports 10/9 – 10/11 1500 LV 45 53 -8 Gallup 10/8 – 10/10 1500 A 41 51 -10 ABC News/Wash Post 9/29 – 10/2 1002 A 42 54 -12 CBS News 9/28 – [...]

 

An Obama Primary: Myth or Reality

Almost any embattled President facing re-election is sure to stir rumors of a primary challenge.  Of the past five Presidents before Obama we have seen two face either serious or at least rumored serious primary challenges. Jimmy Carter in 1979 saw Democratic legend Ted Kennedy launch a primary challenge that at least one commentator thinks [...]

 

Gallup: Satisfaction with Government at All-time Low

(from the PRIsm Political Report) The Gallup organization has been studying the American attitude toward the federal government for the past 40 years, yet their latest poll results have entered a new realm.  In looking at data dating back all the way to 1971, at no time has the distrust of governmental institutions and elected [...]

 

Bloomberg Poll: Obama Approval Plummets on Jobs Plan

A majority of Americans don’t believe President Barack Obama’s $447 billion jobs plan will help lower the unemployment rate, skepticism he must overcome as he presses Congress for action and positions himself for re- election. The downbeat assessment of the American Jobs Act reflects a growing and broad sense of dissatisfaction with the president. Americans [...]

 

Washington Post Poll: Perry Leading Romney

The survey also show’s that self-identified Republicans believe that Rick Perry has the best chance to defeat Barack Obama in the general election by a 10 point margin. By Dan Balz and Peyton M. Craighill, Published: September 6 Aided by strong tea party support, Texas Gov. Rick Perry has surged in the race for the Republican [...]

 

Is Obama more like Harry Truman or Gerald Ford?

Gallup’s latest data paints a potentially dire picture for Barak Obama, but not one so dire that it prevents Democrats from whistling past the graveyard. To recap: Obama’s job approval is down to a miserable 38% in the latest Gallup Poll. But Democrats will point to the fact that his personal favorable ratings are still [...]

 

Gallup: Perry Off to a Good Start

PRINCETON, NJ — Texas Gov. Rick Perry is now recognized by 67% of Republicans and Republican leaners nationwide, an increase of 13 percentage points from two weeks ago. Still, six of the other nine candidates or potential candidates are better known than Perry, led by Sarah Palin (97%) and Rudy Giuliani (91%). Of the announced [...]

 

Gallup: Obama Job Approval at Lowest Point

PRINCETON, NJ — President Barack Obama averaged a 43% job approval rating for the week of July 18-24, tied for the lowest weekly average of his administration. Obama’s rating at this point is lower than President Bill Clinton’s ratings were in the fall of 1995 when he was embroiled in a budget dispute similar to [...]

 

Gallup: Debt Ceiling Increase Remains Unpopular

PRINCETON, NJ — Despite agreement among leaders of both sides of the political aisle in Washington that raising the U.S. debt ceiling is necessary, more Americans want their member of Congress to vote against such a bill than for it, 42% vs. 22%, while one-third are unsure. This 20-percentage-point edge in opposition to raising the [...]

 

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