Poll Watch: CNN/Opinion Research Political Survey on Barack Obama and Congress

Poll: Support For Obama's Policies Down Since Last Year
As the Democratic Party looks to recover from the midterm shellacking, a new CNN poll found that support for Obama's policies has dipped 10 percentage points over the past year. Yet despite the sharp drop, a majority of Americans still support the President's policies. In the poll, 61% percent of respondents said they hoped Obama's policies would succeed, while 27% said they hoped his policies would fail. Last year, CNN pegged that split at 71% to 22%. The poll asked: In general, do you hope t...

2012 Senate: What's at Stake
Since the Filibuster reform topic seems to be heating up, it might be worth a look at what the future holds in 2012. Democrats have 22 seats up for grabs (including Independents); Republicans have 10. Of those 22 Dem/I seats, at least 5 are tossups as to whether they'll remain Democrat or turn over to Republicans. Here's the list of all seats up in 2012, via Daily Kos and the current Cook rating for 2012: That's a daunting list. We already know the damage the Citizens United decision had on 2010...

What we really want to know about our politicians
It's Bowl Week on ESPN, something that probably means little to you, unless you're a College Football junkie or a degenerate gambler (or both!). I happen to fall into one of those categories, which is why I spent Sunday night watching a game that is called, believe it or not, the Little Caesar's Pizza Bowl. At one point, the announcers mentioned the name of a prominent coach who was nowhere near the game: Frank Beamer of national power Virginia Tech. This led me to wonder how long Beam...

Movement Afoot To End Lame Duck Sessions Of Congress
The Lame Duck session of Congress is in the books, with many touts lauding the post-election period of congresspersons actually doing things as the most productive Lame Duck ever. This sort of glosses over the fact that a lot of the sexier things that passed -- the ratification of the START Treaty, health benefits for 9/11 First Responders, and the Repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell -- were wildly popular with the public and should have been considered "no-brainers." Plus, everyone got a Tax Cut,...

Palin's 2012 hopes sinking?
Who will be the GOP 2012 presidential nominee? Domenico Montanaro writes: Sarah Palin (R) remains a divisive figure. The latest NBC/Wall Street Journal poll that measured her Favorability Ratings showed the former Alaska Governor and 2008 GOP vice-presidential nominee about as polarizing as Nancy Pelosi . A CNN poll out yesterday showed her numbers dropping among Republicans. One reason: Republicans are trying to figure out who can win, and her high negatives, particularly among Independents, do...

Tea Party, Health Reform, Dream Act Good for Democrats in 2010
When my editor suggested I write about the best things to happen to Democrats in 2010, the first answer that came to mind was: It ends in just a few days. It's mordant, but it's true. Consider the midterm "shellacking," the BP Oil Spill, and President Obama's problematic poll numbers. But while Democrats will be happy to see the end of 2010, a longer view will show that the year was kinder to the president and his party than it now seems. Here are my picks of the seven best things fo...

Obamacare mess is legacy of Dems' moment of power
AP File The ObamaCare fiasco will be the legacy of the Democrats big moment of power. As Republicans prepare to take power in the House and play a more influential role in the Senate, it's good to think back a year. At the end of 2009, it was not at all clear that big Republican victories were on the way -- only that the GOP was at its lowest point in a long, long time. Roundly defeated in 2008, House Republicans were powerless to stop a huge Democratic majority from passing the national healt...

Leaving The Last Decade In The Rearview Mirror
Posted on December 30, 2010, 6:10 pm, by Alex Bratty, under Alex Bratty, Blog, Featured, NBC/WSJ. As Americans prepare to ring in 2011 and pledge their New Year resolutions there is little doubt they have few regrets about leaving 2010, and in fact the last decade, in the past. Those who feel most pessimistic about the last decade include Obama voters (65% “very bad/one of the worst decades”), Democrats (63%) and African Americans (62%).  Meanwhile, Republicans (44%) and McCain ...

One of the worst Congresses in history goes away finally
Image via Wikipedia Opinion Journal: Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid sent out a Press Release last week headlined "111th Congress Accomplishments." It quoted a couple of Democratic Party cheerleaders calling this the greatest Congress since 1965-66 (Norm Ornstein) or even the New Deal (David Leonhardt), and listed in capital letters no fewer than 30 legislative triumphs: Health Care Reform, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, a Jobs Package (HIRE Act), the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Ac...

Obama DoJ: DADT Repeal Ends Their Appeal
Barack Obama’s Department of Justice today argued in a Federal Court that the “Repeal” of Don’t-Ask-Don’t-Tell signed by the President (which provides a pathway via certification to the Congress by the Military, the Secretary of Defense, and the President that the DoD is ready to end DADT) means that there’s no need for them to continue their appeal of the Log Cabin Republicans’ case in the Ninth Circuit: it’s moot. In a late Wednesday filing to th...

Outgoing Dem rails against redistricting
The redistricting process is killing the democratic process in Congress, an outgoing Democratic lawmaker said this week. Rep. Stephanie Herseth Sandlin (D-S.D.), a co-chairwoman of the conservative Blue Dog Coalition, said that redrawing of Congressional Districts over the years has hurt Centrists in both political parties. "I think, when I look at the moderate Republicans who lost their Elections in 2006 and 2008, it's in part because they were holding the seats that we could win. Everyone e...

Leaving The Last Decade In The Rearview Mirror
Posted on December 30, 2010, 6:10 pm, by Alex Bratty, under Alex Bratty, Blog, Featured, NBC/WSJ. As Americans prepare to ring in 2011 and pledge their New Year resolutions there is little doubt they have few regrets about leaving 2010, and in fact the last decade, in the past. Those who feel most pessimistic about the last decade include Obama voters (65% “very bad/one of the worst decades”), Democrats (63%) and African Americans (62%).  Meanwhile, Republicans (44%) and McCain ...

Backlash against GOP for failure to pass DREAM begins to be heard
LatinaLista.net -- Something interesting has been happening since the Senate defeat of the DREAM Act before Christmas. It seems more columnists and constituents, who never wrote about the issue before, are writing about it now and all seem to be chastising the GOP and conservative Democrats for their decision to deny deserving Students a chance to normalize their Citizenship status. Because of what happened in the Senate, and the unlikelihood that the DREAM Act will be brought up again anytime...

CNN Poll: More Americans Believe Obamas Radical Agenda Will Fail & Trust GOP Congress Over Obama to Handle Issues
Who said Obama was the come back kid and on a rebound? In the most recent CNN/Opinion Research poll , more Americans believe that Barack Obama’s radical policies will fail. Just one year ago a majority of Americans thought Obama’s policies would succeed. However, that was until they fully realized what his radical policies were all about.  Also, Americans have confidence in Republicans over Barack Obama, 40% to 35%,  to handle the problems facing the country. Full CNN poll resu

Warren searching for consumer agency chief
The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Elizabeth Warren is quietly searching for a permanent head for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. The hunt suggests that Ms. Warren, a Lightning Rod for some Bankers, might not be selected to lead the bureau, a centerpiece of the Dodd-Frank financial overhaul bill that passed this summer. Still, many liberal groups will push to get her in the post. President Barack Obama's choice could signal how he intends to deal with resurgent Republicans in C...

Pundit accountability: Which predictions did I blow in 2010?
The night that Health Care reform passed the House, I stood under a balcony and listened to Rep. Michele Bachmann promise full Repeal by any means necessary. Since then, I've taken it seriously when Republicans come up with ways to undo ObamaCare. But I was skeptical at first of the Lawsuits filed by state attorneys general, aimed at repealing the mandate portion of the bill. "Ambitious Republican politicians are clambering on board with the idea of Lawsuits to Repeal the Health Care individual ...

SC textile giant, once among richest in US, dies
South Carolina textile Magnate Roger Milliken, who at one time was ranked among the nation's wealthiest people and helped turn the state's Republican Party into a powerhouse, has died. Company spokesman Richard Dillard says Milliken died Thursday in Spartanburg. A cause of death was not immediately available. He was 95. Milliken became president of Spartanburg-based Milliken & Co. when his father died in 1947 and built the family business into an industry giant. He served as president until ...

Most in U.S. think Iran has nuke program
WASHINGTON, Dec. 29 (UPI) -- While 70 percent of U.S. residents believe Iran has a Nuclear Weapons program, only 24 percent would use force to stop it, a poll released Wednesday indicates. Angus Reid Public Opinion found a sharp partisan divide on the issue. More than half, 56 percent of Democrats, favor sanctions and negotiations with Iran but a 40-percent plurality of Republicans prefer Air Strikes or invasion. Independents tilt toward the Democratic view with 52 percent favoring a non-violen...

Lawmakers chosen to draw Congressional boundaries
State legislative leaders on Thursday announced which lawmakers have been appointed to a special committee to redraw Congressional District boundaries. The 10-member committee will be co-chaired by Sen. Rollie Heath, D-Boulder, and Rep. David Balmer, R-Centennial. The group is charged with meeting in all seven congressional districts and getting input from the public. The Bipartisan committee consists of five Democrats and five Republicans appointed by legislative leaders. Democrats control the ...

Lawmakers chosen to draw Congressional boundaries
State legislative leaders on Thursday announced which lawmakers have been appointed to a special committee to redraw Congressional District boundaries. The 10-member committee will be co-chaired by Sen. Rollie Heath, D-Boulder, and Rep. David Balmer, R-Centennial. The group is charged with meeting in all seven congressional districts and getting input from the public. The Bipartisan committee consists of five Democrats and five Republicans appointed by legislative leaders. Democrats control the ...

Latest GOP Target Is New Deputy Attorney General James Cole
James Cole has been given a Recess Appointment by President Obama to be the Number 2 person in the Justice Department, after Republicans held up his nomination longer than any recent deputy Attorney General nominee. Cole’s view that “the Sept. 11 attacks were criminal acts of Terrorism against a civilian population” doesn’t sit well with the GOP. The soon-to-be deputy Attorney General wrote that the country “has faced many forms of devastating crime, including the s...

Reince Priebus: There Will Be War
I'm mostly holding off on posting on the RNC race until January and most of it will likely be done at Big Government. But this this via Jim Hoft deserves a quick mention for now.  Reince Priebus’s Law Firm supports ObamaCare and says its constitutional. It will be interesting to hear what GOP Leader John Boehner, GOP Whip Eric Cantor and Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell have to say about this. Is this really teh(sic) person who needs to be leading the RNC for the next two y...

Constitutional Utopia
The field of Constitutional Law has always featured a great deal of what’s known as “motivated belief” where people look at the document and tend to see it as supporting their preexisting policy conclusions. Ezra Klein had a great post on this yesterday. Since the 111th Congress saw Democratic control of the House of Representatives, Democratic control of the Senate, and Democratic control of the White House paired with an overwhelming Republican preponderance in the federal ...

Waxman: Tea Party rancor next session
WASHINGTON, Dec. 30 (UPI) -- U.S. Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., a close ally of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California, predicted the next Congress will be "most rancorous." Waxman, the top Democrat on the Energy and Commerce Committee, told KPCC, Pasadena, Congress in the past two years has been "very productive" but the institution is now entering what he predicted will be "one of the most rancorous periods of time in our country's history," The Hill reported. With Republicans in control of t...

Regarding The RNC Chair And What The Tea Party Can Do
Posted by Melissa Clouthier on Dec 30 2010 Filed under News & Opinion, Politics, Tea Party. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry A couple thoughts: Can we please have an Republican National Committee Chair who gets the notion of Small Government? Two RNC Candidates are for ObamaCare? And by all accounts, Reince Priebus ain’t the sharpest knife in the drawer. Hey. I don’t know the man, but enough peo...