… Putting aside the substantive policy question of whether we should or should not punish Syria for its apparent use of chemical weapons with a surgical and proportionate attack–and there are plenty of meritorious arguments on both sides of that question–what if he just changed his mind? Are president’s allowed […] Read more »
Republicans Supported Attacking Syria, Now They Don’t. Guess Why
For decades, Republicans have been more supportive than Democrats of an interventionist foreign policy. Surveys conducted earlier this year showed that Republicans were consistently more likely than Democrats to support striking Syria if Assad used chemical weapons. But partisanship is powerful in the age of President Obama, powerful enough to […] Read more »
Obama Approval Fluid Among Hispanics, GOP Moderates
President Barack Obama’s job approval is more fluid among certain groups of Americans than among others. Of the major subgroups, U.S. Hispanics’ approval of Obama has shown the greatest variation during his more than five years in office, with quarterly approval averages ranging from a low of 49% to a […] Read more »
Do you think Obama’s doing a good job?
As President Barack Obama hit the road Thursday and Friday for a campaign-esque bus tour, the Republican National Committee fired off an email to reporters titled “Lame Speech, Lame Duck.” While it’s the RNC’s job, as the party committee of the party not controlling the White House, to criticize the […] Read more »
Economy Easily Most Important Driver of Obama Approval
The economy carries the greatest weight of nine key issues in determining how Americans rate President Barack Obama overall. Americans who approve of the job Obama is doing on the economy are six times more likely to approve of Obama’s overall performance than those who disapprove of Obama’s handling of […] Read more »
Another clue to Obama’s 2012 victory: Americans weren’t doing so badly
What happens if Americans got wealthier when nobody was looking? There are a number of ways to measure the health of the economy: gross domestic product (GDP) growth, job growth, and how much disposable personal income (DPI) Americans have. It turns out Americans have had more of the latter, if […] Read more »