Posts Tagged ‘poll’
What is the Tea Party? A growing state of mind
By Susan Page and Naomi Jagoda, USA TODAY, 7/02/2010
WASHINGTON — The “Tea Party” is less a classic political movement than a frustrated state of mind.
A year and a half after the idea of a Tea Party burst into view, three of 10 Americans describe themselves in the USA TODAY/Gallup Poll as Tea Party supporters — equal to the number who call themselves Republicans — though many of them acknowledge they aren’t exactly sure what that allegiance means.
“I don’t really understand it, but I like what they stand for,” says Terry Rushing, 63, of Greensburg, La., who was among those surveyed. “They just support everything I’m looking for — lower taxes, less government. … All the good things, you know.”
“What we need is to push the tea over the edge of the boat, and the Tea Party is trying to do that,” says Dale Jackson, 37, a school bus driver from Jefferson City, Mo., mentioning his concerns about illegal immigration and government bailouts.
Jackson’s comment and the group’s name hark back to the nation’s revolutionary beginnings in its tax revolt against England, and the Fourth of July holiday this weekend has become a rallying cry for supporters who plan a gathering in San Antonio, a fair in suburban Atlanta and more. To look at who the foot soldiers are in the nation’s newest political army and what motivates them, USA TODAY combined results from national polls in May and June and did additional interviews.
The portrait that emerges fits a traditional conservative group. The ranks of the Tea Party include somewhat more men than women, and they are more likely to be married and a bit older than the nation as a whole. Residents of the South and West are the most likely to endorse the Tea Party, but it is unmistakably a nationwide movement: 28% in the Midwest and 27% in the East call themselves backers.
They are overwhelmingly white and Anglo, although a scattering of Hispanics, Asian Americans and African Americans combine to make up almost one-fourth of their ranks.
Read more at http://www.usatoday.com/news/politics/2010-07-01-tea-party_N.htm
63% Favor Repeal of National Health Care Plan
rasmussenreports.com, May 24, 2010
Support for repeal of the new national health care plan has jumped to its highest level ever. A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 63% of U.S. voters now favor repeal of the plan passed by congressional Democrats and signed into law by President Obama in March.
Prior to today, weekly polling had shown support for repeal ranging from 54% to 58%.
Currently, just 32% oppose repeal.
The new findings include 46% who Strongly Favor repeal of the health care bill and 25% who Strongly Oppose it.
Read more at http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/current_events/healthcare/march_2010/health_care_law
Newspaper Websites Ignore or Downplay Pew Poll Showing Americans Largely Approve of Arizona Law
By Ken Shepherd, Newsbusters, 5/13/2010
Yesterday the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press released a poll finding “Broad Approval For New Arizona Immigration Law.”
While Republicans were the most supportive, a full 45 percent of Democrats and 64 percent of independents polled supported the law. When broken down to the particulars of the bill, there was even broader support. For example, 65 percent of Democrats and and 73 percent of independents favored “requiring people to produce documents verifying legal status,” the portion of the bill that has been derided as allowing the police to demand, “your papers please!”
These poll numbers are absolutely astounding, especially considering the media’s non-stop campaign to denounce the law and paint it in an unfavorable light. Yet true to form, the media continue to downplay the results. A search this morning of the Web pages for the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, the Washington Post, and USA Today found no links to articles about the poll numbers.
Poll: Americans back Arizona’s illegal immigrants law
By Margaret Talev, McClatchy Newspapers, May 12, 2010
WASHINGTON - A strong majority of Americans support Arizona’s controversial new immigration law and would back similar laws in their own states, a new McClatchy-Ipsos poll found.
Sixty-one percent of Americans - and 64 percent of registered voters - said they favored the law in a survey of 1,016 adults conducted May 6-9.
Strikingly, nearly half of Democrats like the law, under which local law enforcement officers are tasked with verifying people’s immigration status if they suspect them of being in the country illegally. While the Democratic Party generally is regarded as more sympathetic to illegal immigrants’ plights, 46 percent of Democrats said they favored the law for Arizona and 49 percent said they’d favor the law’s passage in their own states.
More than 8 in 10 Republicans and 54 percent of independents favor the law.
In addition, about 69 percent of Americans said they wouldn’t mind if police officers stopped them to ask for proof of their citizenship or legal rights to be in the country; about 29 percent would mind, considering it a violation of their rights; and about 3 percent were unsure.
A separate Pew Research Center poll on the Arizona law released Wednesday found similar sentiments.
In the McClatchy-Ipsos poll, almost two-thirds of Americans said illegal immigration was a real problem that hurt the country; they were evenly split as to whether the jobs illegal immigrants take are ones that Americans don’t want.
Read more at http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2010/05/12/94050/most-americans-approve-of-arizonas.html
CNN Poll: Majority says government a threat to citizens’ rights
from CNN Deputy Political Director Paul Steinhauser, cnn.com, Feb. 26, 2010
Washington (CNN) – A majority of Americans think the federal government poses a threat to rights of Americans, according to a new national poll.
Fifty-six percent of people questioned in a CNN/Opinion Research Corporation survey released Friday say they think the federal government’s become so large and powerful that it poses an immediate threat to the rights and freedoms of ordinary citizens. Forty-four percent of those polled disagree.
Jewish support for Obama continues to tumble
Wednesday, December 09, 2009, By Republican Jewish Coalition Press Office
According to a Quinnipiac poll released today (1), Jewish support for President Obama has tumbled to 52%. In January, Obama’s approval rating among Jews was 83%; by September it had fallen to 64%, according to a Gallup poll (2).
The Quinnipiac poll asked respondents whether they approved of President Obama’s handling of specific issues. Only 52% of Jewish respondents approved of the way President Obama is handling the economy, and 49% approved of his handling of health care.
Among Jewish respondents, only 36% were satisfied or somewhat satisfied with the way things are going in the U.S. today.
Republican Jewish Coalition Executive Director Matt Brooks said, “Overall support for President Obama is falling in this country; Rasmussen polls have pegged him with around 48% approval and 52% disapproval for the last few weeks (3). Even among Jewish voters his numbers are declining quickly.
“Voters are becoming more aware of the details of President Obama’s agenda for this country. The glow of the ‘hope and change’ mantra has faded in the face of the higher unemployment, higher taxes, and higher national debt that his agenda will impose on us and our children.
“In addition, the Jewish community has been troubled by the efforts of this administration to pressure Israel on the issue of ‘settlements’ and has raised questions about the sovereignty of Israel over a united Jerusalem. These and otherwise actions by the President have fueled the growing ‘buyers’ remorse’ on the part of Jewish voters.”
More at http://www.rjchq.org/Newsroom/newsdetail.aspx?id=dcfbe2c6-de44-4ea5-8969-027543c7c454