Narrow tea party losses are wake-up call for Republicans

The Republican establishment went into last week’s off-year elections believing that the tea party insurrectionists who have ripped apart the GOP in recent years would suffer enough damage to force them into some kind of retreat. But no one thinks that happened. The expectation now is that the long-running internal […] Read more »

NBC/WSJ poll: Obama approval sinks to new low

President Barack Obama’s approval rating has declined to an all-time low as public frustration with Washington and pessimism about the nation’s direction continue to grow, according to a new NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll. … And for the first time in the survey, even Obama’s personal ratings are upside-down, with […] Read more »

Americans Down on D.C. Leaders Since Shutdown Began

Americans’ basic opinions of President Barack Obama and key congressional leaders are worse today than they were prior to the government shutdown. Net favorable ratings of Obama, House Speaker John Boehner, and Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell are at least 10 percentage points lower than before, with a smaller five-point […] Read more »

Congressional Leaders Get Low Marks as Fiscal Fight Looms

As Congress heads into a major fiscal showdown that could result in a government shutdown and the U.S. defaulting on its debt, few Americans approve of the job that top congressional leaders are doing. Americans give relatively low job approval ratings to Republican House Speaker John Boehner (37%), Democratic Senate […] Read more »