Politicians don’t usually confess to letting polls dictate policy, but two weeks after President Obama said the American people would decide the fate of gun control, he announced a legislative push for tougher, universal background checks, a limit on high-capacity magazines, and a ban on assault weapons. All three measures […] Read more »
Most see Obama as ‘strong leader,’ say deal on debt ceiling does not require cuts
President Obama heads into his second term with political momentum on his side, and leads congressional Republicans when it comes to dealing with the country’s debt limit according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll. More Americans now approve of the way Obama is doing his job than at any […] Read more »
Country Divided Over Debt Ceiling, Deficit Reduction
Surveys showed that Americans sided with President Obama and Democrats in last month’s debate over extending the Bush tax cuts for most taxpayers, but according to a new United Technologies/National Journal Congressional Connection Poll, the country is more divided over how to reduce the deficit as the White House and […] Read more »
Obama’s second term will be more aggressive, but not just because it’s his last
The wide-ranging proposals on gun control that Barack Obama is expected to announce tomorrow (Jan. 16) symbolize the change in attitude accompanying his second presidential term. … The departure of older and blue-collar whites limited the scale of Obama’s victory, but it left behind a more ideologically cohesive Democratic party […] Read more »
Hagel pick supported by Democrats, but not Republicans
Americans give tepid support to President Obama’s nomination of former Republican senator Chuck Hagel as defense secretary, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll, but supporters far outnumber opponents at this early stage. Fully one in three express no opinion on the matter, highlighting the fact that Hagel is […] Read more »
The Economy and the Campaign
Income growth was slow through most of 2012, and prospective voters were correspondingly pessimistic about the state of the economy. So how was Barack Obama reelected? An important part of the answer is that perceptions of the economy became significantly less pessimistic in the fall than they had been in […] Read more »