Democrats better hope 2014 isn’t an Obama referendum

If the 2014 election is a referendum on President Obama, Democrats are in deep trouble. That’s according to a new state-by-state study of Obama’s job-approval ratings released by Gallup that puts his disapproval rating at over 50 percent in 10 of the 21 states where Democrats are defending Senate seats […] Read more »

State of the Union: The Public Weighs In on 10 Key Issues

President Barack Obama recommended a number of actions in his 2014 State of the Union address Tuesday. Some steps he will take using executive orders; others were requests for congressional legislative action. Gallup data reveal how Americans’ views line up with 10 of these issues. CONT. Frank Newport, Jeffrey M. […] Read more »

Obama’s Priorities Face Split Nation

Tuesday’s State of the Union Address from President Barack Obama followed the usual pattern for the speech, a laundry list of proposals on everything from income inequality to immigration reform to Afghanistan–but with a twist. With a divided Congress listening and unlikely to move on many of those items, Mr. […] Read more »

Here’s How Obama Can Go It Alone

President Obama is right that through his remaining months he can leave his deepest imprint primarily through unilateral actions that don’t require congressional cooperation. But they aren’t the actions he highlighted the most in this week’s State of the Union. In the speech, Obama offered a coherent vision of the […] Read more »