This Last Week's Poll: Who "Won" tonight's Republican Debate?
Mitt Romney (10%)
Michele Bachmann (0%)
Herman Cain (16%)
Newt Gingrich (6%)
Rick Perry (33%)
Jon Huntsman (0%)
Ron Paul (30%)
Rick Santorum (3%)
I suspect that some of the votes were for candidates you liked and not necessarily whom you thought actually won the debate. (And you know who you are!) That's okay. Everyone's entitled to their own opinion!
Multiple choices and Obama's crack budget office accountants may account for totals greater than 100%
Thank you for your participation! Not a scientific poll. Respondents are self selecting. Questions are drawn from fortune cookies, hieroglyphics and tomorrow’s New York Times.
Please make your opinion known in this week's poll.
He will not accept any blame for his own policies (66%)
Unfortunately, Obama's speech was not as substantive of any of the above.
Multiple choices and Obama's crack budget office accountants may account for totals greater than 100%
Thank you for your participation! Not a scientific poll. Respondents are self selecting. Questions are drawn from fortune cookies, hieroglyphics and tomorrow’s New York Times.
Please make your opinion known in this week's poll.
Still one day left on the "who will Obama blame" poll. And, if you had a chance to watch tonight's Republican debate, who do you think "won"? Either by an outright win, or just "damaged him or herself the least", who fared best tonight in the debate at the Reagan Library?
One of the points that tends to come up in discussions of making Social Security solvent, is "means testing" recipients. Is there anything wrong with this picture? Asking people who paid into a system all their lives, often against their will, with the promise of only a crappy return on their money, and now facing the prospect of being denied even that crappy return, because their income or net worth might be above some arbitrarily set level, which would indicate that they might not "need the money"?
Let's say there's someone eligible for Social Security, who had been paid millions of dollars in, say, book sales. Should that person receive Social Security, since it is obviously not "needed"? How about independently wealthy government employees? Should they receive government pensions on top of the salaries that they "don't need"?
The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey of Likely Voters shows that 82% believe members of Congress should take a 25% pay cut until the federal budget is balanced. Only 14% disagree.
That 82% is seven per cent higher than this time last year. Is it too much to ask our ruling class to lead by example? Say what you will about Arnold Schwarzenegger, he didn't need the governor's salary and he didn't take it.
Before we "means test" Social Security, let's "means test" Congress and the Executive Branch. Before we take away the meager returns of Social Security from people who were forced to contribute, some for half a century or more, let's join Barack Obama in asking the "millionaires and billionaires" in Congress and the Executive to do what's "fair", and means test themselves turning down the salaries and pensions, that they are entitled to, much as SS recipients are entitled to theirs.
I'm going to hold my breath until that happens. (When I'm sufficiently blue, I'll audition for the Avatar or Smurf sequels. There's a better chance of that happening. )
This Last Week's Poll, "The Last Space Shuttle Lifted Off Friday:" (check for "Yes")
Should the program have been discontinued? (0%)
Should it be replaced with something else? (45%)
Should that replacement have been in place before retiring the shuttle program? (75%)
Will the discontinued shuttle program add to unemployment? (40%)
Is Obama's talk of "going to Mars" simply empty rhetoric in light of his gutting and his redirection of NASA? (70%)
Will the private sector be able to replace NASA in maintaining America's lead in space exploration? (30%)
Multiple choices and Obama's crack budget office accountants may account for totals greater than 100%
Thank you for your participation! Not a scientific poll. Respondents are self selecting. Questions are drawn from fortune cookies, hieroglyphics and tomorrow’s New York Times.
Please make your opinion known in this week's poll.
It's still a little too early to call this horse race, but I see this as a good sign! Although only 4% ahead in "support", her favorables over her unfavorables are 65% to Mitt's 41%.
This could get interesting! First female POTUS, anyone?
The hundred. With his economy, it'll have the buying power of a one soon. - 9%
The people have spoken! The three it is!
Multiple choices and Obama's crack budget office accountants may account for totals greater than 100%
Thank you for your participation! Not a scientific poll. Respondents are self selecting. Questions are drawn from fortune cookies, hieroglyphics and tomorrow’s New York Times.
Please make your opinion known in this week's poll.
In the survey of nearly 1,000 likely Republican primary voters, New Jersey Gov. Christie gets a resounding 62 percent of the vote to Romney’s 19 percent, with the remaining 19 percent not sure.
Texas Gov. Perry gets 55 percent of the vote when matched against former Massachusetts Gov. Romney, who receives 22 percent, with 23 percent not sure.
I think Rick's hair is every bit as presidential as Mitt's. He could lose the green tie though, IMHO.
NEW ORLEANS — As has become typical at GOP cattle calls, Ron Paul captured the presidential straw poll at the Republican Leadership Conference here, easily besting his nearest competitor, Jon Huntsman.
Paul won 612 votes to Huntsman's 382. Michele Bachmann came in third with 191 votes and Herman Cain finished behind her, taking 104 votes.
Nearly 40% of the votes went to Ron Paul, who, in actual presidential runs garnered less than one half a percent of the vote in 1988, and a little over one half a percent of the vote in 2008.
And yet, he receives nearly 40% of the vote in a straw poll? What's wrong with this picture? And the virtually unknown Jon Huntsman comes in second? Yeah. Right.
Forgive me if this straw poll fails to create any sort of band wagon to be jumped upon by me.
Multiple choices and Obama's crack budget office accountants may account for totals greater than 100%
Thank you for your participation! Not a scientific poll. Respondents are self selecting. Questions are drawn from fortune cookies, hieroglyphics and tomorrow’s New York Times.
Please make your opinion known in this week's poll.
Remember that old saying "You are what you eat"? Maybe today it's also true that you are what you watch? National Media Inc. did a demographic study of who watches what on TV, based on their party affiliation and tendency to vote.
Surprise, surprise when I saw a number of my favorites in the upper right hand, Republican who vote quadrant! Celebrity Apprentice, on the other hand, with The Donald, was the show deemed most popular among the most liberal in the audience. Never seen it myself! "Wive Swap", which, in the spirit of full disclosure I have also not seen, was popular with the most liberal in the audience that tends not to vote.
Curious, I thought, was the presence of "Cops" in the more liberal less vote crowd. Isn't this show on (whispers) Fox*? Maybe among liberals who sit home on election day, there is also a fascination with seeing themselves,their friends and their neighbors on TV??
One other surprise was "House". I like the show and would have thought it would have skewed more right, but then, the show did lose some conservative viewers after Lisa Edelstein did that pro-abortion PSA.
I could show you that, but instead, I'll show you one of the reasons some of us still watch, in spite of that:
*Sometimes called "Pox" by those who love it, watch it every day, but are embarrassed to admit it in front of fellow liberals.
Update: Democrat voters watch measurably more television than Republican and swing voters. According to National Media Research
Barack Obama rode to a comfortable presidential election win in 2008 on the electoral wings of a coalition based on liberal whites, independents and blacks, especially blacks.
Obama lost much of his independent support during the endless debate on his overreaching healthcare plan, when his laser focus on that legislation attracted blame for the stubbornly high unemployment numbers and rate.
Some liberals expressed impatience with Obama over his delay in repealing "don't ask, don't tell," reneging on his Guantanamo closure promise, doubling down on American military involvement in Afghanistan and, most recently, getting involved in combat over Libya. But where else can those liberals look?
However, this morning comes the most troubling political news for Obama's four-day-old reelection campaign:
His job approval among blacks is sliding.
Obama starts his reelection campaign by alienating everybody. Great strategy there, Barack!
Once monolithic, blacks' support for the first African American president is still immense. But for unclear reasons it's declined about 7% from well above 90% to 85% in March. That's a new low since Obama's inauguration 26 months ago.
Unclear reasons? The guy has broken nearly every campaign promise he made, he's been governing against the will of the people, taking over large sections of the private economy and wants to wreck health care. Did I leave anything out? Oh, yeah. I need to take out a bank loan to fill up my lawn mower!
Equally ominous for Obama in 2012, his approval among Hispanics, the nation's fastest-growing demographic, has also fallen to again tie his term low of 54%. That's a drop of 11 points from its early high of 65%.
"SÃ se puede" is Spanish for : "Did I lie to you? Yes I can!"
It's a long way to November 2012. Memories are short and a lot could shift public opinion one way or another. Still, Obama's disastrous energy policies will make economic recovery much, much harder. Here's a blast from the past, Mr. O, to inspire your reelection campaign:
And, although most straw polls are worth every bit as much straw as you can take away from them, this one is interesting!
Which Republican should become the next president? Herman Cain, according to a number of Tea Party activists gathered at a weekend summit in Phoenix.
Cain, a conservative talk show host and former Godfather's Pizza chief executive, won the American Policy Summit's presidential live straw poll on Sunday. Republican Rep. Ron Paul of Texas won the summit's online poll. The survey is a chance for conservative activists gathered on the last day of the Tea Party Patriots conference to name their favorite presidential picks.
Cain won nearly 22 percent of the nearly 1,600 votes cast. Paul won nearly half the votes cast by more than 2,300 online registered attendees. "The mood at this summit shows that Tea Party activists are looking for leaders who share our principles of fiscal responsibility and limited government and who will vow to uphold policies that reflect those principles once in office," said Jenny Beth Martin, national coordinator of Tea Party Patriots.
"Mr. Cain and Rep. Paul's positions resonated with Tea Party Patriots this weekend and the straw poll indicates the enthusiasm for these strong conservatives," said Mark Meckler, the Patriots' other national coordinator.
I'd make some snarky remark about how Ron Paul's supporters somehow always manage to put him in first place on Internet polls, no matter how little actual support he has, but I already did!
PRINCETON, NJ -- Ahead of Presidents Day 2011, Americans are most likely to say Ronald Reagan was the nation's greatest president -- slightly ahead of Abraham Lincoln and Bill Clinton. Reagan, Lincoln, or John F. Kennedy has been at the top of this "greatest president" list each time this question has been asked in eight surveys over the last 12 years.
Reagan beats Lincoln and Washington! Oooh! The trolls with Reagan Derangement Syndrome are going to have some 'sploding heads!
Obama came in seventh, because, there's no accounting for taste! And Jimmy Carter is only ahead of Eisenhower and George H. W. Bush alphabetically! Heh.
Over at the NYT, there's the headline: "Ron Paul Is No. 1 for 2012". Foregoing all the obvious "number one and number two" jokes, does brother Paul stand a chance in 2012?
Certainly in the conservative movement today, no one has run for president as many times from as many parties as has Ron Paul. Is he rapidly becoming the Williams Jennings Bryan or the Lyndon LaRouche of the Republican party?
Some have suggested that this latest straw poll victory may actually hurt him more than help him. I tend to agree. By bringing attention to himself this early on, people will focus on all the things they don't like about Paul and the reasons they did not support him or vote for him in the past.
And while he has a strong record for being reelected inside his district, his track record for national votes has been sadly lacking.
I don't want to rehash all the reasons that a Paul candidacy leaves me cold. I've gone over that here and here, and here, and here, and here, and here, and...well, I think you get the message!
Since I don't believe that Paul has changed or moderated any of his views since then, my opinion remains the same. Certainly if he has shifted in any of his foreign policy positions, I would be happy to hear of it. But, I'm not holding my breath.
Update: On the other hand, you just have to admire anyone who is so up front with their support!
This Last Week's Poll: Obama's SOTU called for spending freezes and multi billion dollar high speed rail projects. Was he:
Trying to be all things to all people?
Disingenuous?
Engaged in politics as usual? and
Mildly schizophrenic?
All came in at 0%
Bamboozling the people? Came in at 15%
And "All of the above?" came in at a whopping 92%
Multiple choices and Obama's crack budget office accountants may account for totals greater than 100%
Thank you for your participation! Not a scientific poll. Respondents are self selecting. Questions are drawn from fortune cookies, hieroglyphics and tomorrow’s New York Times.
Please make your opinion known in this week's poll.
This Last Week's Poll: Is President Obama's call for civility:
A) Sincere? 17%
B) Ignored by fellow liberals? 0%
C) Code for "Conservatives should shut up"? 35%
D) B and C, but not A ? 47%
With 82% choosing "C" and "D", I think we can assume that most respondents to the poll thought that Obama's strength is not his SOTU, but his STFU.
Multiple choices and Obama's crack budget office accountants may account for totals greater than 100%
Thank you for your participation! Not a scientific poll. Respondents are self selecting. Questions are drawn from fortune cookies, hieroglyphics and tomorrow’s New York Times.
Please make your opinion known in this week's poll.
This Last Week's Poll: Obama's Together We Strive, er, Thrive pep rally:
"Too political?" 42%
"Too rowdy for a memorial?" 65%
"Too little, too late?" 23%
"Just right" 0%
Multiple choices and Obama's crack budget office accountants may account for totals greater than 100%
Thank you for your participation! Not a scientific poll. Respondents are self selecting. Questions are drawn from fortune cookies, hieroglyphics and tomorrow’s New York Times.
Please make your opinion known in this week's poll.
Thank you for your participation! Not a scientific poll. Respondents are self selecting. Questions are drawn from fortune cookies, hieroglyphics and tomorrow’s New York Times.
Please make your opinion known in this week's poll.
