Politics

President Obama may be gaining something as the Republicans battle for their party’s presidential nomination. His approval rating in this week’s Economist/YouGov Poll (Week of 2/11/2012) is still below 50%, but he still leads all the GOP candidates in hypothetical fall horseraces.  This week, 43% say they approve of the way the President is handling his job; 47% disapprove.    Still, Mr. Obama leads former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney by five points if they became the nominees; he leads former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum by seven, Texas Congressman Ron Paul by eight, and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich by 15.  Economist/YouGov poll archives can found here. Photo source: Press ... read more

One fact nearly all Republican primary voters know is that former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney is a Mormon. 83% of GOP voters in the latest Economist/YouGov Poll (Week of 2/11/2012) say he is. By contrast, less than half of Republican voters know that Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum are Catholics. The issue for Romney is that nearly half of GOP voters say it is important that a "true conservative" (something many Republicans say they are looking for in a nominee) be a "true Christian guided by Christian beliefs and morals." And for at least some Republican voters, Mormons don’t qualify. Last week, less than half of GOP voters ... read more

GOP voters’ level of satisfaction with their choices this year has risen and fallen, as the fortunes of conservative candidates rise and those of former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney have slipped. Three weeks ago, after former House Speaker Newt Gingrich’s victory in the South Carolina primary, 58% of GOP voters said they were satisfied with their choices; a week later, that dropped to 44%. In this week’s Economist/YouGov Poll (Week of 2/11/2012), conducted after former Pennsylvania Governor Rick Santorum’s triple victory last Tuesday, satisfaction is back up a bit. 49% of GOP voters are satisfied.    Republican voters are quite knowledgeable about the candidates still in the running. Seven ... read more

Former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum’s three wins last Tuesday raised his stock with Republican voters: he is now the clear leader in the latest Economist/YouGov national poll (Week of 2/11/2012).    Santorum’s rise has been dramatic. Last week, he was tied for third place with Texas Congressman Ron Paul at 16%, 16 points behind the then-frontrunner, former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney. This week, Santorum’s support has nearly doubled. 29% of registered voters who usually vote in Republican primaries favor him for the nomination. Meanwhile, Romney has dropped five points; former House Speaker Newt Gingrich has lost seven points.  Santorum’s rise has come from two groups: Republican voters who ... read more

More Americans Like Higher Taxes on Wealthy over Punishing the Unemployed to Pay for Payroll Tax, Unemployment Benefit and Medicare Doctors’-Reimbursement Compromise Congress succeeded in reaching a compromise on extending the payroll tax cut through the end of 2012 before the February 29 deadline for the payroll tax cut’s demise, and also extended unemployment benefits and higher reimbursements for doctors treating Medicare patients, according to the latest Economist/YouGov Poll (Week of 2/11/2012).  Good thing:  60% of Americans are satisfied or enthusiastic about the current 4.2% payroll tax rate, and 54% would have been dissatisfied or angry to see the rate ... read more

Despite the sometimes large partisan differences when it comes to important issues, both GOP and Democratic voters want compromise. Overall, 74% of Americans in the latest Economist/YouGov Poll (Week of 2/4/2012) want President Obama to compromise with Republicans, and 80% want Republicans to compromise with him.  Support for compromise is greatest from those on the other side, but a majority of GOP voters would like to see Republicans compromise with the President in order to get something done; and a majority of Democratic voters would like President Obama to compromise.    One place where compromise hasn’t happened much recently is Congress — and it continues to suffer in ... read more

There are multiple issues that divide Republicans and Democrats — and they are both economic and social. For example, in this week’s Economist/YouGov Poll (Week of 2/4/2012), 64% of GOP voters think abortion should be mostly or always illegal. 69% of Democratic voters think it should be mostly or always legal. When it comes to making same-sex marriage legal, 67% of GOP voters oppose that, 54% of Democratic voters are in favor.      On economic questions, the gap is also wide. 80% of Democratic voters want to increase taxes on families with incomes over $250,000 a year. 54% of GOP voters would not.    In addition, a ... read more

Americans have favorable opinions of both Planned Parenthood and the Susan G. Komen for the Cure Foundation, but this week’s Economist/YouGov Poll (Week of 2/4/2012) suggests that last week’s controversy over the Komen Foundation defunding Planned Parenthood and then reversing that decision may have brought politics into the picture, if it wasn’t there already.    Nineteen years ago, 81% of Americans interviewed in a Gallup/CNN/USA Today poll had a favorable opinion of Planned Parenthood. In this week’s poll, 59% of Republican voters are unfavorable towards Planned Parenthood; 68% of Democratic voters are favorable. Slightly less than half of both Republican and Democratic voters are positive about the Komen Foundation.  ... read more

The public wants to see traditional values when it comes to teaching children behavior in the latest Economist/YouGov Poll (Week of 2/4/2012). Americans choose respect for elders over independence and good manners over curiosity by wide margins. More narrowly, they would rather have disciplined children than creative ones.    However, they also are more likely to want children to be considerate than well-behaved, and choose self-reliance over obedience.  Republican voters are even more conservative than Democratic ones. More of them want disciplined children, ones with good manners, and those with respect for elders. Older Americans also are more likely than younger ones to favor those qualities.  ... read more

While he may be trailing President Obama in the latest head to head contest in this week’s Economist/YouGov Poll (Week of 2/4/2012), there are several qualities where GOP frontrunner Mitt Romney outperforms the incumbent President — most critically, on the issue of experience.  Just 17% of Americans would describe President Obama as “experienced.” 31% would not. For Romney, 29% say he is experienced; and just 10% do not. Romney also scores higher than the President on being religious. Interestingly, however, Obama scores slightly higher on being patriotic.    Among GOP voters, the top three candidates are fairly evenly matched on most qualities. However, Gingrich is most likely to ... read more