Americans give a lukewarm response to last week’s agreement to avoid the fiscal cliff, albeit with higher marks for the deal to President Obama than to House Speaker John Boehner. More people in this ABC News/Washington Post poll approve than disapprove of the agreement, but just by a 7-point margin, […] Read more »
The Emerging Democratic Presidential Majority: Lessons of Obama’s Victory
In this paper I examine the fundamental factors that shaped the 2012 presidential campaign and ultimately produced a fairly close but decisive victory for Barack Obama. I argue that the voting patterns seen in 2012 both at the state level and at the individual level reflected an increasingly partisan and […] Read more »
What If the Obama Campaign Didn’t Win Him the Election?
In the wake of the 2012 election, it’s become commonplace to credit Obama’s “formidable” campaign for his victory. I’ve already begun to challenge that narrative a bit. This post will continue to do so. [cont.] John Sides, George Washington U. (The Monkey Cage) Read more »
The Polls Don’t Say What You Think They Do on the Debt Ceiling
Here we go again. Because the fiscal cliff deal left the debt ceiling issue untouched, Americans can count on a rerun of the mid-2011 “debt ceiling” debate over whether the United States government should be allowed to pay its bills. … It’s generally agreed that Obama and the Democrats did […] Read more »
Americans on the fiscal cliff deal: meh
The fiscal cliff was averted last week as both the House and Senate agreed on an imperfect package. What do Americans think of this legislation and those who passed it? [cont.] Harry Enten, The Guardian Recent polls: Fiscal cliff Read more »
Obama Viewed as Fiscal Cliff Victor; Legislation Gets Lukewarm Reception
Barack Obama is viewed as the clear political winner in the fiscal cliff negotiations, but the legislation itself gets only a lukewarm reception from the public: As many disapprove as approve of the new tax legislation, and more say it will have a negative than positive impact on the federal […] Read more »