After a day of headline-making testimony in the House impeachment inquiry, the contenders for the Democratic nomination squared off in their fifth debate. The candidates largely eschewed talk of impeachment and mostly avoided the kind of conflict that characterized previous debates. In this installment of the FiveThirtyEight Politics podcast, the […] Read more »
Obama Tops Public’s List of Best President in Their Lifetime, Followed by Clinton, Reagan
When asked which president has done the best job in their lifetimes, more Americans name Barack Obama than any other president. More than four-in-ten (44%) say Obama is the best or second best president of their lifetimes, compared with about a third who mention Bill Clinton (33%) or Ronald Reagan […] Read more »
Obama Averages 52.0% Job Approval in 31st Quarter
During his 31st quarter in office, President Barack Obama averaged 52.0% job approval, up one percentage point from the 30th quarter and the highest in his second term as president. … Of the six presidents who served 31 quarters in office, Obama is the fourth to have majority approval at […] Read more »
A Party Divided Is a Party Defeated — Usually
The question is no longer whether the GOP will be torn apart by the 2016 nominating process but how badly hurt its presidential nominee will be and whether defeat in November will be inevitable. The answer depends on the nominee and on the ultimate extent of the divide. But there […] Read more »
America has never actually welcomed the world’s huddled masses
… The outcry over resettling a relatively small number of Syrian refugees — far fewer than France vowed to take in even after the attacks — isn’t an exception; it’s more like the rule. Yes, the United States has been generous: Since 1948, close to 4 million refugees have come […] Read more »
No Drama Obama
President Obama’s middling job approval rating has been quite steady over the last few months, devoid of much movement outside of the relatively subtle shifts seen from poll to poll. This is nothing new: Based on Gallup’s polling, Barack Obama’s approval rating has the smallest standard deviation of any modern […] Read more »