In 2014, four issues generated enough public concern over enough months for at least 10% of Americans, on average, to identify each of them as the nation’s most important problem. Complaints about government leadership — including President Barack Obama, the Republicans in Congress and general political conflict — led the […] Read more »
What’s Behind Obama’s Improving Poll Numbers?
As Barack Obama nears the halfway point of his second term, things appear finally to be looking up for the president after a difficult year. For the first time since September 2013, Gallup’s daily polling on Mr. Obama’s job approval rating shows it above water: 48% of Americans approve of […] Read more »
Obama’s Approval Rating Up Among Latinos
President Barack Obama’s approval rating with Latinos has jumped 10 points since he announced a new policy of deportation relief for millions of undocumented immigrants, a new NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll shows. CONT. Carrie Dann, NBCNews.com Read more »
Obama and Immigration: What He Did vs. How He Did it
A slim majority of Americans support the immigration program created by Barack Obama’s executive action – but divisions on whether he exceeded his authority impede most of the political capital he might have gained. Overall, 52 percent support Obama’s initiative, with 44 percent opposed. But 49 percent say he exceeded […] Read more »
Americans Steady on View of Immigration
Support for immigration in the U.S. has stayed steady, even as the political fortunes of immigration legislation have risen and fallen. A Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll released Wednesday finds 48% of Americans saying that immigration helps the U.S. more than it hurts it, with 42% saying it hurts the […] Read more »
The Rise of ‘Welfare Chauvinism’
… In the United States, the besieged two-party system has remained intact, protected by a 200-year-old tradition and an electoral system that cuts short any bid to create a viable third party. There are two major costs to this stability: recurrent gridlock, which constricts legislative action, and a failure to […] Read more »