Contraception

Poll: Americans Overwhelmingly Favor Contraception Coverage Mandate -- Including Catholics

Eric Kleefeld | February 15, 2012, 11:08AM

Calek/ Shutterstock

The new CBS/New York Times poll shows that the White House's fight over contraception in health insurance plans is in fact on the winning side with the public -- and among Catholics, too, the group whose church leadership has mounted the mount vigorous campaign against it.

The poll of American adults asked: "Do you support or oppose a recent federal requirement that private health insurance plans cover the full cost of birth control for their female patients?" The answer was: Support 66%, Oppose 26%.

A follow-up question then specifically brought the religious element into the equation: "And what about for religiously affiliated employers, such as a hospital or university -- do you support or oppose a recent federal requirement that their health insurance plans cover the full cost of birth control for their female employees?"

The answer was still a very sizable majority: Support 61%, Oppose 31%. And on that followup question, Catholics were essentially identical to the top-line at 61%-32%. Women also supported it by 66%-28%, and men by 55%-38%.

Super Committee

CNN Poll: What The Super Committee Produced Is....Exactly What We Don't Want

Kyle Leighton | November 21, 2011, 12:33PM

New data from a CNN/ORC poll shows that since the Super Committee seems headed for failure, the resulting budget "haircut" will produce precisely the cuts the American public least desires.

Both parties in Congress are viewed as part of the problem -- Americans disapprove of the job Republicans are doing at a 77 percent clip, and 68 percent think Democrats are doing a lousy job as well. But when it comes to specific policy proposals, it's fairly one sided. Support for higher taxes on businesses and high income individuals is the highest rated idea with two thirds of Americans for it, second is cuts to domestic programs at 60 percent.

One of the least popular options are actually what's slated to happen if the Super Committee doesn't reach an accord -- support for cuts to defense hovers around forty percent. So does "major changes" to the Medicare systems and Social Security. The current plan should the Super Committee fail is a two percent cut to Medicare providers, cuts to defense and to other domestic programs. Of course, leaders can still reach another deal before those cuts become reality in 2013, but they'll have to overcome a filibuster vote.

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Polls

Poll: Public Opinion Turning Against Occupy Wall Street

Eric Kleefeld | November 16, 2011, 11:02AM

A new national survey from Public Policy Polling (D) finds public opinion souring pretty quickly on the Occupy Wall Street movement.

The poll asked: "Do you support or oppose the goals of the
Occupy Wall Street movement?" The result was only 33% support, to 45% opposed.

In the previous poll from a month ago, when the protests were fairly new and public opinion had not yet had the chance to set in, the result was a very close 35% support, to 36% opposed.

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Health Care

Poll: Majority Now Support The Individual Mandate

Eric Kleefeld | November 14, 2011, 11:16AM

Image From Lenetstan / Shutterstock

A new CNN poll on the issue of health care reform finds that support for the law's central and most controversial element, the individual health insurance mandate, has climbed into majority territory.

In the new poll, support for the individual mandate -- requiring people to get health insurance -- has climbed to 52%, with 47% opposed. When the last survey was taken in June, that a majority of 54% opposed it, with 44% in support.

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2011 Elections

Poll: Ohio Set To Vote Big Against Kasich's Anti-Union Law

Eric Kleefeld | November 6, 2011, 10:38PM

Gov. John Kasich (R-OH)

A new survey from Public Policy Polling (D) shows Ohio Democrats and public employee unions likely to win a big victory on Tuesday in the referendum on Republican Gov. John Kasich's anti-public union bill, SB-5.

The poll shows only 36% of Ohioans will vote to support the law, while a decisive 59% oppose the bill and will vote to repeal it.

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Super Committee

Not-So-Super Committee? Poll Finds Little Confidence A Deal Will Be Reached

Kyle Leighton | November 3, 2011, 9:30AM

Only a quarter of Americans think that the Super Committee tasked with coming up with a deficit reduction plan for the federal budget will reach a deal, a new Quinnipiac poll shows. 67 percent say that no deal will be reached, which would trigger cuts in the Defense Department and to entitlement programs.

The poll also shows that Americans have less appetite for tax increases as part of the package, which runs counter to a number of findings from the summer. When asked, "From what you know so far, do you think the deficit-reduction proposal should include some increases in tax revenue or should it include only cuts in government spending?" only 39 percent were in favor of any tax increases to offset the debt, while a near majority of 48 percent said that only spending cuts were needed. Independent voters closely mirrored that split.

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Fox News

Fox Poll: 47 Percent At Least Somewhat Concerned Occupy Wall Street Will Turn Into 'Street Riots'

Kyle Leighton | October 29, 2011, 9:15AM

Well, this is one way to win the message war.

Fox News is on a roll with their latest round of polling -- the news network has been releasing bits of data over the week, and on Friday they came out with some new gems. Those crazy kids braving the cold in Zuccatti Park certainly are something.....but what exactly? Fox wanted to find out, so they asked the following question: "How concerned are you that the Occupy Wall Street demonstrations will eventually turn into street riots?"

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Affordable Care Act

Kaiser: Health Care Reform Favorability At New Low

Kyle Leighton | October 28, 2011, 9:03AM

A new survey from the Kaiser Family Foundation shows the Affordable Care Act (ACA) with its lowest ever level of support in their polling, a huge shift from September, when Americans' view of the new health care reform law ran nearly even at 41 percent favorable versus 43 unfavorable. The October poll showed that 51 percent of Americans have an unfavorable view, against 34 percent who see it positively.

Kaiser has tracked the popularity of the new law since it was passed, and it's been fairly popular some past surveys: in June of 2010, 50 percent of Americans liked what they saw with only 35 percent disliking it. But for the most part, the ACA favorability numbers have remained in the 40 percent range on either side.

Of course, many of the provisions actually in the health care law haven't been implemented yet. Kaiser has a very handy breakout of what's currently in effect by the law's timeline and the areas of policy that each provision effects here. For instance, a majority of the insurance provisions have not yet gone into effect, including major (and some might say the MOST important) reforms like guaranteed availability of insurance and essential health benefits, neither of which will happen until 2014.

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Wisconsin Protests

Poll: Walker Leads Possible Challengers, State Still Split On Recalling Him

Eric Kleefeld | October 26, 2011, 3:32PM

Governor Scott Walker (R-WI)

A new survey of Wisconsin from Public Policy Polling (D) has some mixed news for Republican Gov. Scott Walker. On the one hand, a narrow majority of the state's registered voters disapprove of his performance. However, the voters are also split on whether they would want to recall him -- as the Democrats are aiming to do -- and he leads various potential Dem opponents.

The new poll finds Walker with an approval rating of 47%, compared to a slightly higher disapproval of 51%.

However, a later question asked: "Would you support or oppose recalling Scott Walker from office before his term is up?" The answer here is 48% in favor, to 49% opposed.

"It won't be easy for Democrats to recall Scott Walker," writes PPP president Dean Debnam. "Voters aren't as angry with him as they were earlier in the year and if Russ Feingold's really out of the mix there's not an obvious Democrat to pit against him."

In a previous survey released in August, PPP speculated that there could be an anti-recall bias among a key section of swing voters, who would be inclined to vote for an incumbent in a recall.

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Occupy Wall Street

'Bipolar Inequality': Did Americans Sign Up For This?

Kyle Leighton | October 25, 2011, 6:02AM

For the past few weeks, the questions about Occupy Wall Street have been about its direction and policy positions.

"Where are the protesters taking this thing?" media-types ask. "What are their demands?" people want to know.

The real question? Why are we trying to blast past the reason that people are down at Zuccotti Park, or in Madrid's main square, or on the streets of Tokyo? -- A combination of high unemployment (and maybe even moreso, underemployment), income inequality and easy access to the offending economic data has made people angry enough to get out and protest.

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Marijuana

Marijuana Goes Mainstream: For First Time, Majority In Gallup Poll Endorses Legalization

Kyle Leighton | October 18, 2011, 5:32PM

Its happened. In the mid-nineties, only a quarter of the U.S. population thought that marijuana should be legal, against a huge 73 percent majority shown in the yearly Gallup poll on legalization. Fifteen years later, there's been a sea change: 50 percent now think it should be legal, the issue's first majority in the history of the Gallup survey, with only 46 percent against it.

Gallup has tracked the issue for forty years, yet it's only really been close in the last few. In fact, only 5 years ago there was a healthy majority against legalization. But the change may have to do with shifting demographics over time. Expectedly, younger Americans are more likely to support making pot legal. "If this current trend on legalizing marijuana continues, pressure may build to bring the nation's laws into compliance with the people's wishes," Gallup wrote.

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Economy

USA Today/Gallup: 44 Percent Say Current Economic System 'Unfair To Them Personally'

Kyle Leighton | October 18, 2011, 2:45PM

Vietnam veteran Bill Steyert of Queens at the Occupy Wall Street protests on September 20, 2011 in New York.

While Occupy Wall Street may not have a 59 point plan to improve the economy or even a new tax structure in slogan form, their general message is clear enough. OWS protesters are upset with income inequality and pervasive unemployment, while some parts of the economy -- read: the financial sector -- have continued to do well (although Tuesday's earnings report from Goldman Sachs shows that even financial firms are feeling the pressure).

But a new USA Today/Gallup poll shows that this feeling is not reserved to just young people currently occupying Wall Street. 44 percent of American adults in the new survey say that the current economic structure is "personally unfair to them," hinting that overall frustration with the economy is not so much defined as pro or anti-capitalist as the accepted American belief, but that it's just not working particularly well.

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Occupy Wall Street

New York To Occupy Wall Street: We've Got Your Back

Kyle Leighton | October 17, 2011, 1:38PM

Occupy Wall Street protesters march across the Brooklyn Bridge on Saturday, Oct. 1.

Wall Street has been occupied by protestors for a month now, and the movement is showing no signs of slowing. And New Yorkers are apparently just fine with that.

A Quinnipiac poll released on Monday found that residents of the financial capital of the world are unfazed by the presence of the protestors, who have been mostly in the financial district's Zuccotti Park but also made their way to Times Square on Saturday night, and that two thirds of New Yorkers agree with the views of Occupy Wall Street.

72 percent polled in the city said that if protestors obey the law they should be allowed to stay as long as they want. 24 percent said they should be limited. There was a trend based on income within those findings, but not what you might think: the lower the income group, the more likely a the respondent would say OWS protests should be stopped at some point. Only 16 percent of those who make over $100,000 felt OWS should be halted in the future, while 34 percent of those who make less than $30-thousand thought so. Still, a majority of all groups said it should continue as long as the protesters aren't breaking the law.

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Occupy Wall Street

Pew: More Americans Interested In Amanda Knox Than Occupy Wall Street

Kyle Leighton | October 13, 2011, 5:55AM

Every week the Pew Research Center tracks what news topics Americans are interested in. This past week, the stories ranged from the economy to the passing of Steve Jobs to the 2012 elections. But Pew also found that interest in the return of Amanda Knox, the American acquitted of murder in Italy, attracted more attention than the Occupy Wall Street protests, despite the same amount of news coverage.

Pew's "News Interest Index" showed that seven percent of respondents said they were interested in news on Occupy Wall Street, and ten said they wanted to know more about Knox. Both were dwarfed by interest in the economy and somewhat by Mr. Jobs, who was of interest to 14 percent. An equal seven percent of coverage was afforded to both Knox and Occupy Wall Street.

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Military service

Pew Study: Only A Third Of Veterans Who Joined After 9/11 Say Iraq And Afghanistan Were Worth Fighting

Kyle Leighton | October 5, 2011, 12:17PM

A soldier helps guard the Rumelia Oil Field in southern Iraq on April 2, 2003.

In a wide-ranging study surveying US veterans, the Pew Research Center documented the attitudes of service members who were involved in the conflicts associated with the War On Terror over the last ten years and those who served before it.

The study unpacked data on veterans' perception of their missions abroad and their effectiveness, as well as their lives since returning to the US. The overarching perception seems to contain a disconnect between service members who served in Iraq and Afghanistan and those who served in previous wars: those from the post-9/11 era are more likely to report difficulty in re-entry to civilian life.

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American Jobs Act

Trust Me: Poll Shows Americans Have More Confidence In Obama Than GOP To Create Jobs

Kyle Leighton | October 5, 2011, 9:45AM

President Obama has not had the greatest run in the polls on handling the economy. But new data from ABC News and the Washington Post shows that if Americans have to chose between him and congressional GOP on creating new jobs, then it's not really a contest.

Obama has jumped fifteen points ahead of congressional Republicans on who Americans trust more the create jobs following a Presidential push for his jobs bill and deficit reduction passage. The poll shows that 49 percent of Americans trust Obama more on the issue, while 34 percent go for the congressional GOP. Just a month ago that number was locked at 40 for each, after a summer of downward markets and an almost-default, which was quickly followed up with palatable disgust toward policymakers in Washington.

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Economy

CBS Poll: 51 Percent Say 'Buffett Rule' Will Have No Effect On Hiring

Kyle Leighton | October 4, 2011, 10:35AM

Further evidence that the percentage of those Americans unwilling to tax millionaires is much higher within the House GOP conference than the country as a whole: A new CBS News poll shows that 64 percent of those polled support such an increase, versus only 30 percent against.

"Democrats were extremely likely to support such an increase (83 percent did so), and independents also supported it, 65 percent to 28 percent," said the CBS report. "On the other side, 54 percent of Republicans opposed such an increase, while 40 percent supported it."

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GOP

Poll: Majority Of Americans Don't Know What GOP Stands For

David Taintor | October 4, 2011, 8:33AM

The GOP swept into the congressional majority during the 2010 midterm elections, but according to a 60 Minutes/Vanity Fair poll, a majority of Americans couldn't tell you what those three letters stand for.

Grumpy Old People? Gauntlet of Power? Try again. According to the poll, only 45 percent of Americans answered correctly: Grand Old Party. Other guesses included Government of the People (35 percent) and God's Own Party (wishful thinking, but only 3 percent).

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Social Security

CNN Poll: Majority OK With Partial Privatization Of Social Security

Kyle Leighton | September 29, 2011, 6:38PM

Gunnar Pippel / Shutterstock

Just a month ago, Texas Gov. Rick Perry touched the Third Rail of American politics by calling Social Security a "Ponzi scheme." There was some real data that showed it hurting him with independent voters and even some Republicans. But on Thursday some data from CNN came out showing Americans going a few different directions on the program: namely, a majority that favored a partial privatization and a fifth that believe the program is actually unconstitutional.

The most traditional number was familiar. Nearly 80 percent of respondents said the program has been good for the country, which held across all parties and ideologies. People still showed concern however: 71 percent of those polled said that the system was either in a state of crisis (22 percent) or had major problems (49 percent), something which all party subgroups agreed on again.

Then results started to get crossed, or at least counter-intuitive.

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Polls

Poll: 73 Percent Support 'The Buffett Rule', Including 66 Percent Of Republicans

Kyle Leighton | September 27, 2011, 3:41PM

Ever since President Barack Obama proposed raising taxes on millionaires as part of a debt reduction package, Republicans have been refining their defense for resisting the change. These are the job creators, they argue, and economic growth will be hampered if they have to pay more income to the government. But it looks like they may have to find something more effective.

In the first public polling available on the so-called "Buffett Rule" specifically -- the proposal to raise taxes on millionaires advocated by billionaire investor Warren Buffett -- Daily Kos/SEIU's weekly "State of the Nation" survey asked the following: Do you support or oppose ensuring that people who make over a million dollars a year pay the same percentage of taxes or more on their total income as those who make less than a million dollars a year?

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Economy

GOP Voters: Many Of These Obama Jobs Proposals Are....Good

Kyle Leighton | September 21, 2011, 10:05AM

President Barack Obama

GOP voters, they're no fan of the President. There are relatively few Obama Republicans compared to Reagan Democrats. But when it comes to doing something on unemployment, party matters less at the moment: the President's jobs plan is enjoying wide support.

TPM reported on Tuesday about Obama's messaging pivot on the the economy, splitting off the jobs issue and leaving the deficit mess to the Super Committee. But Gallup data now shows the jobs bill working as a crossover issue on the policy itself. In fact, four of the proposals included in the package (small business tax cuts, more funds to hire teachers, cops, and firefighters, business tax breaks for hiring new workers and more infrastructure spending) all see majority support from Republicans and GOP-leaning Americans.

And we haven't even mentioned eliminating tax loopholes for corporations, which 53 percent of Republicans support as well.

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Barack Obama

Polls Suggest Voters Supportive Of Obama's Jobs Pivot

Kyle Leighton | September 20, 2011, 6:25AM

Hey, he had to do something.

Coming up on three years as President, the unemployment rate remains stubbornly high, and the American public is fretting about a double-dip recession. Its taken a real toll on President Obama's economic approval rating, which has been locked in the mid to low thirties: the TPM Poll Average is at 33.6 percent approval versus 60.7 percent disapproval, down from slightly higher approval earlier in the year.

The post-summer solution? Pivot to the issue voters care about the most -- jobs.

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Global Warming

What Consensus? Poll Shows Misconceptions About Scientific Agreement On Climate Change

David Teich | September 15, 2011, 2:30PM

ribeiroantonio / Shutterstock

While Republican candidates for president champion far right causes to try to capture the tea party vote in the primary, each will have to worry about moving back to the center should they win the nomination. On issues like entitlement reform, this may cause trouble. But when it comes to global warming, they might not have to scramble back to the middle: They may already be there.

According to a poll by the Yale Project on Climate Change Communication, while most Americans agree global warming is taking place, many are still badly misinformed about the scientific consensus surrounding its causes. From the study, only 29% of Republicans and 10% of Tea Partiers think most scientists believe global warming is taking place. While Democrats (55%) and independents (46%) do better on the question, they're still way off.

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Congress

Outrage Index: Near Majority Blames GOP For Frustration With Washington

Kyle Leighton | September 15, 2011, 10:00AM

House Speaker John Boehner with House Majority Leader Eric Cantor in the foreground.

It seems that the combination of brinkmanship and lukewarm reception to most anything President Obama proposes has caught up with Republicans in Congress.

The debt fight caused Washington's approval ratings to drop to new lows, but new data from a Bloomberg national poll shows that it hit the Congressional GOP the strongest: of the Americans who said they were frustrated with Washington, 45 percent said it was because of the GOP.

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Recession

Brinkmanship Tanks: Obama Still Favored Amid Economic Pessimism

Kyle Leighton | September 14, 2011, 10:45AM

President Obama

President Obama's speech unveiling his jobs bill was a call to action for Congress. Literal action, in this case, as he's gone on a barnstorming tour of swing states with a simple message repeated over and over: "Pass this bill." So how is the new jobs package playing with Americans? Pretty well, but as before, economic pessimism is reigning right now, and it's a drag on almost all numbers.

But being down on the economy hasn't convinced Americans to hand control over to Republicans: they still trust Obama more on the economy than the Congressional GOP.

CNN and Bloomberg on Wednesday both released polls on reaction to the jobs plan and the economy in general. CNN asked Americans if they agreed with the proposals in Obama's plan, and a plurality said they did: 43 percent favored the bill and 35 were against it. But Bloomberg asked voters if the plan "will or will not help lower the unemployment rate?", which respondents doubted. 40 percent said no, 51 yes.

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Barack Obama

When Nothing Can Be Done: Study Shows Americans Losing Faith In Solutions For Recovery

Kyle Leighton | September 8, 2011, 6:00AM

President Obama

The Great Recession has been more than an economic downturn. The term "downturn" suggests the situation is fairly short and fixable, a temporary flattening in America's unending economic slope. It has been three years since the stock market tanked and contraction started, and the Obama administration just announced that it expects unemployment to remain above 9 percent through 2012. So, forget short. But what about fixable?

President Obama's jobs speech may be highly anticipated by the media and in Washington, but it seems certain that the GOP majority in the House will reject whatever Obama proposes. And as we've seen with the deficit reduction proposals that the super committee could undertake as part of their deficit reduction task, the priorities of Congress and what the American people would accept is oftentimes at odds.

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Creationism

FOX Poll: 77 Percent Believe Prayer Can 'Literally Help Someone Heal From An Injury Or Illness'

Kyle Leighton | September 7, 2011, 3:42PM

Image From Shutterstock

In case anyone needed reminding, America is a deeply religious nation, and a new FOX News poll has some data to prove it. Or, prove it again.

The news network's recent national survey included a question asking if respondents "personally believe prayers can literally help someone heal from an injury or illness." 77 percent of respondents said yes, against 20 percent who did not, and a perhaps surprisingly low 3 percent that admitted they were unsure.

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Polls

Rasmussen Poll: Offsetting Disaster Aid With Cuts Not Such A Bad Idea

Kyle Leighton | September 7, 2011, 10:20AM

Hey, if a hurricane hits another part of the country, that's not your problem, right? Apparently, that view is more widely held than one might think.

In the days before Hurricane Irene ravaged the east coast, Rep. Eric Cantor (R-VA) floated the idea that disaster aid from the federal government should be offset with spending cuts in a similar way to the GOP demands on the debt ceiling deal. The idea, though pretty consistent orthodoxy from Cantor, was loudly criticized, but Cantor doubled down. And a new poll out on Wednesday from Rasmussen shows a surprising amount of support for that very position.

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2012

Gallup and ABC/WaPo: GOP Voters Like Perry, But Haven't Dumped Romney Yet

Kyle Leighton | September 6, 2011, 6:15PM

Fmr. Gov. Mitt Romney (R-MA) and Gov. Rick Perry (R-TX)

Texas Gov. Rick Perry might be the leader in the race for the GOP Presidential race at the moment, but the previous frontrunner isn't too shabby in the eyes of Republican primary voters either. New data from Gallup and an ABC/Washington Post survey both show that the candidates enjoy high favorability ratings among party faithful.

In the Gallup poll Perry is viewed favorably by 73 percent of GOP primary voters, while Romney sits at 71. Even though Perry has moved ahead of Romney in national polls, Romney still occasionally outpolls President Obama in match-ups, and has also been shown in some surveys to be the candidate that voters think could do better on the economy than the President. The advantage within the numbers for Perry is that for the moment, he's rated "strongly favorable" by fifteen points more than Romney, meaning his support is more intense.

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NY-09

GOP Pollster: Republican Ahead For Anthony Weiner House Seat

Eric Kleefeld | September 6, 2011, 2:45PM

NY-09 candidates Bob Turner (R) and David Weprin (D)

Republican polling firm Magellan Strategies has a new survey for next Tuesday's NY-09 special election to replace Anthony Weiner -- showing Republican candidate Bob Turner ahead of gaffe-prone Democrat David Weprin in this historically Democratic district.

The numbers: Turner 44.6%, Weprin 40.4%, plus 3.2% for Christopher Hoeppner of the Socialist Workers Party. The survey was conducted in one day, on September 1, and has a ±2.16% margin of error.

The survey found Weprin underperforming against what should be expected for a Democrat in the district. The poll asked a generic ballot question, several questions before the actual named-candidate horse race. That result found a generic Democrat leading in the district with 44.8%, with a generic Republican at 39.9%.

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MA-SEN

Poll: Scott Brown Ahead But Under 50 Percent Against Elizabeth Warren

Eric Kleefeld | September 6, 2011, 12:08PM

Sen. Scott Brown (R-MA), Senate candidate Elizabeth Warren (D)

A new poll in Massachusetts find that Sen. Scott Brown (R-MA) remains ahead in his race for re-election in 2012 -- but is well under 50 percent against former White House adviser Elizabeth Warren, a precarious spot for a Republican in this usually deep-blue state.

The new survey was sponsored by Boston's NPR station, and conducted by polling firm MassINC. The numbers: Brown 44%, Warren 35%. In match-ups against other Democrats, Brown led City Year co-founder Alan Khazei by 45%-30%, led Dem activist Bob Massie by 45%-29%, and led Newton Mayor Seti Warren 46%-28%.

In a positive sign for Brown, his favorable rating is a solid 54%, to only 25% unfavorable. On the other hand, Elizabeth Warren is at only 17%-13% favorable, with 24% undecided and a 44% plurality having never heard of her -- and Brown is nevertheless unable to reach 50% support in this Dem state.

The poll was conducted from August 30 to September 1, and has a ±4.4% margin of error.

2012

Voters Just Can't Quit Obama: Economic Numbers In The Tank, Americans Still Like The President

Kyle Leighton | September 6, 2011, 12:00PM

President Barack Obama

The first day back from summer break in Washington brought fresh evidence that the race for 2012 will be a competitive one, and the President is on shaky ground. Three new polls from NBC/Wall Street Journal, ABC/Washington Post and Politico/George Washington University all had one major message: President Obama's approval ratings are at their lowest levels, but people still like him. And the jury is still out on who can actually beat him.

NBC trumpeted the headline "President 'is no longer the favorite to win re-election,' Democratic pollster says," and then cited numbers that are similar to many seen in August. Obama's general approval rating in the NBC/WSJ poll is underwater at 44 percent against 51 percent disapproval. On the economy it's more bleak, at 37 approval versus 59 percent disapproval. ABC/WaPo showed similar numbers as did Politico/GWU.

We have also seen similar numbers over the last month, in the Gallup and Rasmussen tracking polls, in CNN surveys and in Quinnipiac. The question at this point is not if the President will see tough challenge, but given the economic numbers, how is it that he is still ahead of his potential GOP rivals?

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Polls

Speech Week: Obama, Romney Battle For The High Ground On Jobs

Kyle Leighton | September 6, 2011, 6:15AM

President Barack Obama and former Gov. Mitt Romney (R-MA)

Congress is back from recess this week, and as TPM has pointed out, the 2012 election starts Thursday. The President will be delivering his highly anticipated jobs speech then, after former Mass. Gov. Mitt Romney lays out his plan on Tuesday. Texas Gov. Rick Perry, ahead in the polls for the GOP presidential nomination, has been talking about his record as a job creator at home, but hasn't been particularly specific about what he would do as president.

As voters tune back in again as fall approaches, there will be effectively one question on their minds: who can revive the economy? It remains the most important issue, and unless something drastically changes, it will be the issue that the 2012 election hinges on. So when it comes to the economy, who's on the best ground in prelude to this weeks' big events?

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Economy

Less Fruits Of More Labor: Workers Less Satisfied With Benefits And Wages

Kyle Leighton | September 5, 2011, 12:40PM

Unemployed workers rally in Indiana in May 2009.

Monday is Labor Day, a day off for most Americans who spend a good deal of their lives toiling at work. It's also a stark reminder to those who don't need reminding: the unemployed and the underemployed. But even those have a job are seeing less and less in returns from that job, says new data from Gallup released Monday. Nearly across the board employees are less satisfied with their health care benefits, their chances for a promotion, job security, and of course, wages.

But all is not lost among those with work. In fact, the survey shows a near high in terms of people who are satisfied with their job, 47 percent, up from 35 in the booming economic times of the late 90s, and just down from 50 percent in 2009. So it seems that though many Americans are less pleased about the individual aspects of their jobs, having one still counts for a lot given the times.

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Polls

And Another One: New Poll Shows Perry Leads Nevada Too

Kyle Leighton | September 2, 2011, 1:30PM

Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R)

Tex. Gov. Rick Perry has taken the lead nationally, but GOP voters are really starting to catch on with his campaign in key primary states as well. Recently, Perry's stormed to the front in South Carolina and Iowa in multiple surveys, and a Republican poll out Friday shows him at the top in another early state in the GOP nomination process: Nevada.

A Magellan Strategies poll out Friday showed that Perry is the first choice of 29 percent of Neveada GOP caucus-goers, followed by former Mass. Gov. Mitt Romney at 24 percent. The survey shows pretty much a two way race: the rest of the field is in single digits, and former contender Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) is down to fourth with 6 percent, behind businessman Herman Cain's 7.

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Economy

CNN Poll: 8 in 10 Believe We Are Still In Recession

Kyle Leighton | September 2, 2011, 12:30PM

New York Stock Exchange

A new CNN poll out on Friday shows that two and half years after the financial crisis and subsequent fallout, the public's worries about the economy have not settled. In fact, more people now feel the US is in a recession than they did in October of 2008.

CNN's survey showed that 69 percent of Americans think we are in a serious or moderate recession, with 13 percent who believe it's still a mild one. That means 8 in 10 Americans still feel the economy is still stuck in neutral, which isn't helpful for other economic indicators like consumer confidence, and could contribute to slowing the recovery.

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Barack Obama

Obama Approval Among Women Drops, But It's Men He Has To Watch Out For

Kyle Leighton | September 2, 2011, 6:25AM

President Barack Obama (D)

Some recent headlines have suggested that President Obama is losing support with women, who have consistently given him higher marks than men right since his 2008 election. "Women no longer are a bright spot for Obama," the AP commented in a write up of its own poll, which showed that the President was below 50 percent approval with both women and men. But these numbers, from what is the lowest point in the President's term ratings-wise, are neither different from other surveys, nor are they the whole story.

Women voters have provided the buffer for Obama's overall approval rating, which has been stubbornly high even though the President faced a number of challenges over the last two and a half years, economic and otherwise. A look back at some major polls show that men as a group have shifted greatly from Obama, from the highs of his early Presidency to below 40 percent. But despite some headlines, women voters have generally stuck with the President and they don't seem ready to fire him yet.

On the face of it you wouldn't get that impression from one of the main polling stories of this past week: the fact that female support in the Gallup tracking poll of Obama's approval hit a weekly low of 41 percent. But here's why that's not giving a complete picture.

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Muslims

Pew: Americans Say Wars In Iraq, Afghanistan Haven't Made U.S. Safer

Kyle Leighton | September 2, 2011, 6:20AM

The view of Ground Zero from a nearby building

On the eve of the ten year anniversary of 9/11, the Pew Research Center has released new data on Americans' reaction to the attacks, and the foreign and national security policies pursued in the post 9/11 era. They show a country with views that have evolved on the relationship between civil liberties and the tools given to government to fight terrorism, and a disbelief that the continuing wars in Iraq and Afghanistan helped to lessen the chance there will be another terrorist attack on the United States.

The Pew survey showed a large shift in the number of Americans who are willing to see some of their civil liberties go out the window in the name of fighting terrorism. Directly after 9/11, Americans were willing to make the deal, as 55 percent thought it was necessary, against 35 percent who felt the opposite. Now, only 40 percent felt that giving up some civil liberties is necessary to curb terrorism, with 54 percent against.

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2012

FOX Poll: Bachmann Getting Hammered By Perry's Surge In Polls

Kyle Leighton | September 1, 2011, 6:49PM

FOX News came out with a new poll Thursday evening that confirmed the numbers from other polls showing Texas Gov. Rick Perry shooting to the top of the GOP field in the race for the party's presidential nomination. Unfortunately for Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN), it seems that much of Perry's success is coming at her loss.

Perry leads with 26 percent of GOP voters, followed by now chief rival Mitt Romney at 18 percent. Bachmann, who had been reaching second place in national polls before the entrance of Perry in the race, was relegated to being the first choice of only 4 percent of Republicans.

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Polls

Quinnipiac: Obama Matchups With Romney, Perry In A Dead Heat

Kyle Leighton | August 31, 2011, 7:40AM

President Barack Obama and former Gov. Mitt Romney (R-MA)

A new national poll from Quinnipiac University shows that national races on both the presidential level and for Congress are in a dead heat as Washington prepares to return to work in September. Tex. Gov. Rick Perry now leads the announced GOP field in his quest for the presidential nomination, the first choice of 26 percent of Republican voters, followed by former frontrunner former Mass. Gov. Mitt Romney at 20 percent, in what is now the fifth national poll Perry has taken the lead.

The poll also shows that President Obama, whose approval rating has been weakened by a slow economy and general disdain for Washington, is running very closely with both Perry and Romney. Obama leads Perry with 45 percent to the Texas governor's 42, and ties Romney at 45 percent. Both matchups are within the poll's margin of error and therefore a statistical dead heat.

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