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By Keith Bolender
$21.00
By John W. Dean
$15.00
$20
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AP photo / Jim Mone
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So, Al Franken officially will become a senator next week, but given his long and bitter battle with rival Norm Coleman, not to mention his pronounced unpopularity among Republicans, it’s not entirely surprising that a Rasmussen Reports national poll released Thursday registered substantial voter displeasure at the prospect of Franken’s arrival on Capitol Hill.
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White House / Pete Souza
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President Obama once said the deficit “keeps me awake at night.” He’s not alone. Three recent polls show that while Obama’s approval ratings remain high, most Americans are preoccupied with the deficit and many question about whether the president is willing and able to rein in spending.
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Flickr / PinkMoose
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The percentage of Americans who follow no religion has doubled since 1990, according to a new survey of religious identity. At 15 percent, they are now the third largest group, behind Catholics and Baptists. The Christian majority has dwindled by 10 points in the last 18 years.
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c.berlet / publiceye.org
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The conservative wing of the Republican Party still has a lot of affection, oddly enough, for the former governor of the People’s Republic of Taxachusetts. For the third straight year, Mitt Romney beat out the likes of Sarah Palin, Bobby Jindal, Ron Paul and Mike Huckabee in a poll of conservative activists.
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By E.J. Dionne, Jr. — After Obama began to campaign around the country for the stimulus, support for the package rose. Administration officials have taken notice. Count on this to be a road-trip presidency.
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By Joe Conason — Having allowed his Republican opponents to dominate the economic debate, Obama used his first news conference to rebut them—coolly and civilly, yet without leaving any doubt that he can strike back harder if necessary.
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original image from Wikimedia Commons
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Hold on to your 10-gallon: Gallup’s polling data from the last election show that more Texans identify as Democrats than Republicans. That hasn’t translated into a political earthquake just yet, but it may only be a matter of time. Changing demographics make the Lone Star State and its 34 electoral votes a tempting target for Democrats.
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obamaicon.me
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Three Iraqi candidates and two campaign workers were killed Thursday as the country prepared for local elections in 14 out of 18 provinces. That’s something to keep in mind with all the talk of improved security. Relative to the hell-on-Earth of recent years, “improvement” amounts to only five people murdered for showing an interest in politics.
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By Eugene Robinson — Rarely has a new presidency been greeted with such a consensus of good will—and rarely has a new president so needed it.
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AP photo / Manuel Balce Ceneta
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Despite his 11th-hour bid to tilt the public approval meter slightly in his direction and put a good word in about his own legacy (see farewell address), outgoing President Bush has been slapped back by an apparently unimpressed public, as demonstrated by a recent New York Times/CBS News poll.
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AP photo / Charles Dharapak
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Although a majority of his state’s voters are opposed to his appointment (according to a recent poll), Roland Burris will be seated as the junior senator from Illinois. Senate Democrats had promised not to seat Burris but, true to tradition, promptly caved.
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By E.J. Dionne, Jr. — While Republicans are looking inward and focusing on appeals to the party’s activist base, Obama wants Democrats to concentrate their energies on recently acquired political terrain and the new converts who were central to his party’s sweep last year.
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Flickr / BohPhoto
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First he wins the presidency of the U.S., then he wins Time’s Man of the Year. Now a poll shows that Barack Obama holds a sizable lead among Americans as the most admired man in the world. Coming second was George W. Bush and third was John McCain, proving once again the horrible imagination Americans have when finding inspiration outside politics.
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By Joe Conason — Nearly every current poll shows that most Americans oppose federal assistance to the auto industry, but legislators should also consider how voters would feel if the nation suffered the full consequences of a cratering auto industry—and if those voters then found out that the facts were not quite what they seemed to be.
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Flickr / Joe Crimmings Photography
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Seventy-three percent of adult Americans think Barack Obama is off to a good start, according to a new Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll. An even larger number think Obama’s trials will test him more than other recent presidents. Folks are scared, and whether they voted for Obama, John McCain or Snoopy, they’re pulling for the president-elect.
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By Marie Cocco — Two weeks ago I wrote that this was going to be a Wal-Mart Christmas. I could not have anticipated the most macabre manifestation of the syndrome: the death of a Wal-Mart worker who was trampled by a mob of early shoppers Friday on Long Island.
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By David Sirota — If you’re having trouble remembering what the recent election was all about, rest easy: You’re probably not going senile – you’re likely experiencing the momentary effects of brainwashing.
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White House / Eric Draper
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Barack and Michelle Obama exchanged warm greetings with George and Laura Bush when they visited the White House Monday. Continuing a tradition, No. 43 and No. 44 held a private meeting, with only the two of them present. The public holds the two men in opposite regard, according to a Gallup poll released the day of their meeting.
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Flickr / marcn
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If John McCain’s strategy on the ground in Pennsylvania worked, why didn’t he win the state? The Political Wire reports that it’s possible the Obama campaign tricked McCain into wasting his limited resources in a state that was never actually in play.
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Just in case you’re waiting until the last possible minute to participate in this historic election, here’s a handy guide to poll closing times around the country.
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Composite: wikimedia/grangercollegeadvising.com
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Polling mania continues! So, Thursday brought word of two newly hatched polls—one by The New York Times/CBS News and the other by Fox News—and their results are strikingly different. What whimsy!
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panhandleparade.com
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By Bill Boyarsky — Next Tuesday, don’t be shocked if the Republicans roll out their familiar tactics of intimidating Democratic voters, challenging their eligibility and subjecting them to long lines at polling places. If the election is close, these shady maneuvers might pay off.
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By E.J. Dionne, Jr. — A candidate is supposed to rally the base during the primaries and reach out to the middle at election time. John McCain got it backward, and it’s hurting him.
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By Eugene Robinson — Opinion surveys, voter registration totals and cable television ratings indicate that Americans have been engrossed by the marathon presidential campaign. In a week and a half, it’ll be over. What will we do to fill the void in our lives?
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AP photo / Susan Walsh
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Colin Powell said Sarah Palin was one of the many reasons he decided to endorse Barack Obama. According to an ABC News-Washington Post poll, he has plenty of company. Fifty-two percent of likely voters question John McCain’s judgment because of his running mate choice.
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By E.J. Dionne, Jr. — John McCain’s debate performance almost certainly did him good among those whose votes he already has: very conservative Republicans who share Joe the Plumber’s view that Obama is some kind of socialist.
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AP photo / J. Scott Applewhite
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Although the pundits were impressed with John McCain’s debate performance, the polls showed another win for Barack Obama, who once again kept his cool against an angry, negative opponent.
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By Joe Conason — For anyone who followed the story of how and why Sarah Palin fired her state’s public safety commissioner, last week’s release of a legislative investigation that found she had violated state ethics statutes was anticlimactic.
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Flickr / BohPhoto
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William Kristol was becoming apoplectic, Hillary Clinton was sounding optimistic, and the McCain campaign was being perhaps a tad unrealistic—or so read Monday’s political barometer as an ABC/Washington Post poll indicated that the Obama campaign had taken a 10-point lead in the presidential race.
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Satire by Andy Borowitz —
Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin went on the attack today, claiming that Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama has long-standing ties to The Weather Channel.
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AP photo / Madalyn Ruggiero
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Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama has pulled significantly ahead of Republican rival John McCain, taking an 11-point lead after Tuesday night’s presidential debate, according to the latest Gallup Poll.
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By E.J. Dionne, Jr. — The key to understanding how John McCain chose Sarah Palin as his running mate was provided by The New York Times last weekend when it described an episode in which he “tossed $100 chips around a hot craps table.”
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Flickr / IowaPolitics.com
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A campaign source tells the political rag that Joe Biden will avoid roughing up Sarah Palin during the debate Thursday, focusing his energies instead on John McCain. That might have something to do with a new poll, which suggests that most people think Biden will prove to be much more knowledgeable, but much less likeable.
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AP photo / Madalyn Ruggiero
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By Bill Boyarsky — In Barack Obama’s presidential candidacy, the fact that he is African-American has seemed to be an obstacle that could be overcome with a good campaign, a few breaks and the issues turning his way. That’s what is happening now.
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Collage: Flickr / transplanted mountaineer / buddhakiwi
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Barack Obama is depending more and more on a Rocky Mountain victory and, according to a new poll, Sarah Palin may have just given him a boost there. It seems the Alaska governor’s growing unpopularity among independent voters has helped Obama to a seven-point lead in the Centennial State.
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By David Sirota — Barack Obama isn’t going to win any arguments about the economy if he keeps winking at the robber barons who helped wreck Wall Street.
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Satire by Andy Borowitz —
The racists of America are definitely not in the undecided column in the Obama-McCain contest, according to this tongue-in-cheek report.
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Flickr / ragesoss
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As the Olympics wound to a close on Sunday night, the Democrats gathered in Colorado for their convention, and already they’ve got a surprise. Ted Kennedy was supposed to stay home, but he’s in Denver and will join the Kennedy clan in a special section. The ailing senator might even address the crowd Monday night.
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AP photo / Rick Bowmer
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If Barack Obama thought he had a battle on his hands when he was vying for the Democratic presidential nomination, he’s in for an even bigger struggle now, if the latest Zogby poll represents an accurate read on American voters’ inclinations at this stage in the game.
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Flickr / EricaJoy
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Barack Obama has a problem: According to a new Los Angeles Times/Bloomberg poll, one in six voters thinks he’s just too black—for America, that is. It’s the political equivalent of “I’m not racist, but my friend is” and, sadly, it may have something to do with the competitive nature of the campaign.
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By E.J. Dionne, Jr. — The core strategy of John McCain’s campaign is to turn Barack Obama into the incumbent, the man who is too familiar yet still mysterious.
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AP photo / Alex Brandon
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By Bill Boyarsky — After enduring the silly debate over who injected race into the presidential campaign, let’s look at some recent numbers that indicate how Barack Obama could win this close election.
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nytimes.com
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As if the situation in the Middle East couldn’t get any worse, this week’s news that scandal-plagued Prime Minister Ehud Olmert will resign has been seized upon by right-wing Israeli politicians, who believe the parliamentary chaos caused by Olmert’s departure will open the door for a return to hard-line, ultranationalist government.
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AP Photo / Jae C. Hong
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At first it looked as if Barack Obama’s world tour, despite all the media attention, wasn’t going to translate into more votes. The senator himself warned that he could actually lose points for globetrotting. The latest Gallup poll, however, shows a trend in Obama’s favor. The candidate held a lead of nine points on Sunday. Updated.
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By E.J. Dionne, Jr. — To win the presidency, Barack Obama needs only to battle John McCain to a tie on foreign policy and national security. That means Obama has no need for a great triumph during his trip this week to the Middle East and Europe. His goal is to look safe, sound and competent, and that’s how he’s playing things.
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AP photo / Susan Walsh
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President Bush hasn’t exactly been basking in the glow of Americans’ approval recently, according to those all-important poll numbers, and now he’s got some company at the bottom of the barrel. Rasmussen Reports finds that just 9 percent of American voters think Congress is doing a bang-up job, and the numbers fall even lower for respondents who don’t identify as either Republicans or Democrats.
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AP photo / Alex Brandon
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Canadians admire Barack Obama more than any other politician in either the U.S. or Canada, according to a recent poll. But there’s plenty of envy to go around. According to the same survey, a majority of both Canadians and Americans think Canada has a superior health care system.
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AP photo / Hans Deryk
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Presidential candidate Barack Obama is currently enjoying a 15-point lead over Republican rival John McCain, according to a new poll conducted by Newsweek, which found that 51 percent of registered voters around the country favored Obama for president, while 36 percent picked McCain.
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Flickr / Steve Rhodes / VictoryNH: Protect our Primary
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Michelle Obama has a nine-point edge over Cindy McCain in the race for America’s hearts and minds, according to an ABC News/Washington Post poll. But neither of the aspiring first ladies has a majority of America’s approval. Really, America, whatever one thinks of their husbands, it’s time to cut the wives some slack.
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By E.J. Dionne, Jr. — At the moment, Barack Obama is winning a smaller share of Democrats than John Kerry did on Election Day four years ago. Yet Obama is beating John McCain by six points in the latest Gallup Poll. How can this be?
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