Posts By Author » Scott Rasmussen

Controversies Doom Obama’s Effort to Restore Faith in Government
17 May 2013 12:02 am

It’s impossible to predict the lasting impact of the controversies now besetting the Obama administration, but the risks to the president’s agenda are sizable.

On the legislative front, they could doom the already cloudy prospects for comprehensive immigration reform. The implementation of President Obama’s health care law is also likely to be a bit more challenging. It’s possible, too, that this week’s controversies could provide a big boost for Republicans heading into the 2014 midterm elections.
But it might not be that clear-cut.
Americans are somewhat unhappy with the president’s explanations of what …

Why the Benghazi Hearings Are Likely to Be a Bust
10 May 2013 12:02 am

Foreign policy matters rarely top the list of voter concerns. That’s especially true in times of challenging economic news.

In recent weeks, though, national security topics have been working their way into the headlines. First came the Boston Marathon bombings and questions about terrorist connections. The civil war in Syria entered the news with reports of chemical warfare followed by an Israeli bombing near Damascus. Finally, congressional hearings have provided additional details about what happened in Benghazi, Libya, on the day Ambassador Christopher Stevens and other Americans were murdered during a …

Voters Don’t Like Political Class Bossing Them Around
3 May 2013 12:02 am

There are many ways to describe the enormous gap between the American people and their elected politicians.
Most in official Washington tend to think that their elite community is smarter and better than the rest of us. Many hold a condescending view of voters and suggest that the general public is too ignorant to be treated seriously. Only 5 percent of the nation’s voters, however, believe that Congress and its staff members represent the nation’s best and brightest.

Gavin Newsom, the former mayor of San Francisco and now California’s Democratic lieutenant governor, …

Americans Seem to Be Taking Terrorism in Stride
26 Apr 2013 12:02 am

The news from Boston over the past couple of weeks has been the stuff of nightmares.

Homemade bombs killing and injuring innocent people at a high-profile public event were followed by a massive manhunt. People in the surrounding suburbs were ordered to stay inside, businesses closed, and SWAT teams overwhelmed a typically quiet community. The Boston police commissioner warned everyone: “We believe this is a terrorist. We believe this is a man that’s come here to kill people.”
When it was over, two out of three voters believed the bombing suspects received …

GOP Needs to Get Over the Makers vs. Takers Mindset
19 Apr 2013 12:02 am

Mitt Romney’s secretly recorded comment that 47 percent of Americans are “dependent on the government” and “believe they are victims” isn’t the only reason he lost the presidential campaign. But the candidate himself acknowledged after the election that the comments were “very harmful.”
He added, “What I said is not what I believe.”
But many Republicans still believe it, and the “makers vs. takers” theme has a deep hold on the party. In private conversations, many in the GOP are whispering that Romney was right and that his only mistake was saying …

Gun Debate Highlights Voter Distrust of Government
13 Apr 2013 12:02 am

Gun control advocates sound puzzled by congressional resistance to relatively modest gun control legislation. Many cite a poll showing 90 percent of Americans support more background checks and suggest the National Rifle Association is the only reason Congress won’t implement the will of the people.
There are a few problems with this argument. First, it implies that Congress normally does what voters want. Nothing could be farther from the truth. Most voters consistently opposed the Wall Street bailout, the president’s health care law and the cash-for-clunkers plan. All became law.
Voters overwhelmingly …

What Happens After Immigrants Arrive Is Important, Too
29 Mar 2013 12:10 am

Sixty-eight percent of voters believe that, when done legally, immigration is good for America. Most voters for years have favored a welcoming policy of immigration. Unlike many issues these days, there is virtually no partisan disagreement.
These facts raise a question that should make everyone in official Washington uncomfortable. If immigration is good for America and there is support across party lines, why can’t the politicians figure out a way to come up with something that works?
Part of the problem is that voters don’t trust the federal government. Regardless of what …

It’s Time To Bust Up the Big Banks
22 Mar 2013 12:02 am

Americans have a healthy respect for free market competition and are resistant to government interference — even when they don’t like what the market is up to. For example, 69 percent of Americans believe that large corporate executives are overpaid, but only 17 percent want the government to regulate their pay.
In that context, it’s remarkable that 50 percent of voters nationwide favor a plan to break up our nation’s megabanks. Just 23 percent are opposed.
There are more than 5,000 banks in the United States today, but 12 of them control …

Beware of the New Elites
15 Mar 2013 12:02 am

James Carville famously kept the 1992 Clinton campaign on message with the simple refrain, “It’s the economy, stupid!” That’s just as true for politicians today as it was two decades ago.
However, many politicians, particularly Republicans, tend to misunderstand all that Carville’s phrase encompasses. It’s not just about economic growth. Fairness is a big part of the equation. Most Americans see both growth and fairness as important.
Today, just 35 percent of voters believe the economy is fair to middle-class Americans. Only 41 percent believe it is fair to those who are …

Health Care Law Now Faces Biggest Challenge: American Consumers
8 Mar 2013 12:02 am

President Obama handily defeated congressional Republicans in the political fight over his health care law. But the law will now face a much tougher opponent — the creativity of Americans determined to gain more control over their own health care decisions. The end result will be a system much different than the president hopes for — and his opponents fear.
To understand why, consider how the nation’s 50 million 401(k) retirement accounts came into existence. It was not what Congress intended when it passed the Tax Revenue Act of 1978. Congressional …

Let’s Speak Plain English About Spending Cuts
1 Mar 2013 12:02 am

To borrow a phrase, Mainstream America and Washington’s Political Class have become two nations separated by a common language.
This gap was highlighted by a recent Pew Research Center poll showing that “for 18 of 19 programs tested, majorities want either to increase spending or maintain it at current levels.”
On the surface, those results appear to support the Political Class conceit that voters like spending cuts in the abstract but not in specific programs. That’s the way it was reported by most media outlets.
But the reality is quite different. The Pew …

Sequester Puts Elected Washington on Trial
22 Feb 2013 12:02 am

There’s a panic bubbling to the surface in Washington, D.C.
It’s being brought about by the so-called sequester, scheduled to take effect next Friday, March 1. The sequester, a series of automatic across-the-board spending reductions, is a gimmick the politicians came up with in 2011 to force themselves to reach some kind of long-term deficit reduction deal.
The expectation was that voters would rise up and protest the automatic spending cuts with such vehemence that it would force Republicans and Democrats to work together. But it hasn’t happened. In fact, just 36 …

For GOP, There’s Plenty of Learning to Go Around
15 Feb 2013 12:02 am

There’s still a lot of confusion in the Republican Party in the aftermath of the 2012 election. Part of the confusion stems from the struggle between the party establishment based in Washington and the party’s base of voters all over the country. Sixty-three percent of Republican voters nationwide recognize that their leaders in Washington have lost touch with the base.
Added to that challenge is the debate over what type of change is needed. Some argue that the party needs to simply change the message and find a better way to …

For Obama, It’s Chiefly About Firing up His Base
8 Feb 2013 12:02 am

As President Obama prepares for his State of the Union address, he has indicated that gun control and immigration will be two of his top priorities. His administration’s actions also indicate an ongoing commitment to place a high priority on environmental concerns. These items, though, tend to rank fairly low on voter lists of priorities.
Consider than 86 percent of voters nationwide rate job creation as most important, and 80 percent say the same about general economic concerns. Seventy-one percent believe that government spending is very important.
Where do the president’s priorities …

Real Border Control Has to Come First in Any Immigration Deal
1 Feb 2013 12:02 am

A bipartisan group of eight U.S. senators has proposed an immigration reform plan that appears to broadly reflect what voters would like to see. But there’s a catch.
Most Americans (56 percent) want our nation to have a welcoming policy of legal immigration. With such an approach, the only people who would be excluded are national security threats, criminals and those who would seek to live off our generous system of welfare and other benefits. Sixty-one percent of Republicans favor such a policy, along with 55 percent of Democrats and 52 …

Politicians Need to Catch Up When It Comes to the People’s Money
25 Jan 2013 12:02 am

President Obama in his inaugural address made it clear he intends to protect the nation’s entitlement programs. In the world of Washington politics, this amounts to a pledge that the president will make sure that no changes will be made to programs like Social Security and Medicare.
Republicans in Congress won’t challenge him because just about everybody in official Washington shares the president’s views that changing such programs would be political suicide.
The reality, however, is that only the foolish options offered by Washington politicians are unpopular. Cutting benefits or raising taxes …

Searching for Answers After Newtown
18 Jan 2013 12:04 am

Following the school shooting horror in Newtown, Conn., our nation shares a heartfelt belief that something must be done.
Polls instantly showed an increase in support for stricter gun control laws. Fifty-one percent of American adults expressed that view in Rasmussen Reports polling.
But there is even more support (81 percent) for taking action on mental health issues. That’s probably because incomprehensible acts are seen as the result of deranged individuals more than anything else.
Balanced against the desire that something must be done was an uncomfortable awareness that solutions are hard to …

Republican Establishment Declares War on GOP Voters
11 Jan 2013 12:02 am

Official Washington hailed the deal to avoid the so-called fiscal cliff as a significant bipartisan accomplishment. However, voters around the country viewed the deal in very partisan terms: Seven out of 10 Democrats approved of it, while seven out of 10 Republicans disapproved.
Just a few days after reaching that agreement, an inside-the-Beltway publication reported another area of bipartisan agreement. Politico explained that while Washington Democrats have always viewed GOP voters as a problem, Washington Republicans “in many a post-election soul-searching session” have come to agree. More precisely, the article said …

Avoiding ‘Fiscal Cliff” May Be a Bad Deal for Official Washington
4 Jan 2013 12:02 am

In Washington, many are celebrating the deal to avoid the so-called fiscal cliff. Some, like The Washington Post, are hailing the “strong bipartisan votes (on) a big, contentious issue.” Outside of Washington, however, the reviews aren’t nearly as strong.
Forty-six percent of voters nationwide approve of the deal, while the identical number disapprove. And the results are very partisan. Seventy percent of Democrats approve, while 67 percent of Republicans disapprove. Among those not affiliated with either party, most (57 percent) disapprove.
There also are indications that perceptions of the deal could quickly …

Boehner’s “Plan B” Doesn’t Help the GOP
21 Dec 2012 12:02 am

President Obama and congressional Democrats are still winning the messaging battle in the debate over the impending “fiscal cliff.”
Republican House Speaker John Boehner tried to change that with a fallback position extending tax cuts for everyone except those making more than a million dollars a year and letting the scheduled spending cuts go through. As I write this, the vote on Boehner’s “Plan B” has not been taken, but it doesn’t really matter. Either way, Republicans will end up as losers in the court of public opinion.
That’s true even though …

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