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Image courtesy of istockphoto. click for info Christianity Is No Longer Americans’ Default FaithJanuary 12, 2009 (Ventura, California) - For much of America’s history, the assumption was that if you were born in America, you would affiliate with the Christian faith. A new nationwide survey by The Barna Group, however, indicates that people’s views have changed. The study discovered that half of all adults now contend that Christianity is just one of many options that Americans choose from and that a huge majority of adults pick and choose what they believe rather than adopt a church or denomination’s slate...

A recent Military Times survey of active-duty service members found 6 of 10 U.S. soldiers polled said they were "pessimistic" or "uncertain" about Barack Obama serving as commander in chief of America's armed forces. In follow-up interviews reported by the Army Times newspaper, respondents cited Obama's inexperience in leading soldiers, his plans for accelerated removal of troops from Iraq and his pledge to overturn the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy regarding homosexual service members as reasons for their cautious outlook. "Being that the Marine Corps can be sent anywhere in the world with the snap of his fingers," said...

Army times article

Sixty-two percent (62%) of Republicans back Israel's decision to take military action against the Palestinians, but only half as many Democrats (31%) agree. A majority of Democrats (55%) say Israel should have tried to find a diplomatic solution first, a view shared by just 27% of Republicans.

Americans, while far more sympathetic to Israel than the Palestinians, are closely divided over whether the Jewish state should be taking military action against militants in the Gaza Strip. Forty-four percent (44%) say Israel should have taken military action against the Palestinians, but 41% say it should have tried to find a diplomatic solution to the problems there, according to a new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey. Fifteen percent (15%) are undecided. Fifty-five percent (55%) of adults, however, believe the Palestinians are to blame for the current situation in Gaza, while 13% point the finger at the Israelis. Nearly one-third...

Poll: 77% of Americans Blame Media for Making Economic Crisis Worse Jan 1 11:09 AM US/Eastern - New Poll Conducted by Opinion Research Corporation - NEW YORK, Jan. 1 /PRNewswire/ -- Seventy-seven percent of Americans believe that the U.S. media is making the economic situation worse by projecting fear into people's minds. The majority of those surveyed feel that the financial press, by focusing on and embellishing negative news, is damaging consumer confidence and damping investment, making a difficult situation much worse. The poll was conducted via telephone, December 4 - 7. The US survey of 1000 adults was conducted...

Deal triumphs over the patriarch of the 1980s “government is the problem,” according to a new Rasmussen poll. By a margin of 45-40 with 15 percent undecided, poll respondents selected Franklin Delano Roosevelt as better than Ronald Reagan. Predictably, the two commanders-in-chief won high marks from those on their ideological spectrum, with 76 percent of liberals favoring Roosevelt and 68 percent of conservatives preferring Reagan. But it’s with moderate, women and African-American voters where the poll gets interesting. Centrists back FDR over Reagan 56 percent to 26 percent, while black voters overwhelmingly support him by a 2-to-1 margin. Women favored...

George W. Bush leaves office with a job-approval rating that once soared to historic highs, then fell slowly but steadily for five years before settling, in the last couple of years, into lows that no president has ever experienced for so long. The president’s final Gallup approval rating of 2008 is 28 percent; a number like that means some core Republicans don’t approve of Bush’s performance, and even among the many in the GOP who still approve, there are a number who are ready to see the president go. Bush knows that. The White House staff knows it. But the...

Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin is the celebrity the largest percentage of respondents to a poll said they would like to have as a neighbor. The December survey of more than 2,000 U.S. adults was conducted by Harris Interactive (NASDAQ:HPOL) and commissioned by the real estate Web site Zillow.com. Fourteen percent of respondents said they would like to live next door to the former U.S. vice presidential candidate. Following close behind, 13 percent said their dream neighbor is talk-show host Oprah Winfrey. Olympic gold medal-winning swimmer Michael Phelps, movie star couple Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie and sit-com star and scribe...

According to a new USA Today/Gallup Poll, Obama is the man Americans admire most. And that fixation has focused recently upon his fitness, which some say even contributed to his victory in the election. Those who doubt Obama's pro-organic positions are referred to an array of nutritional news stories, blogs, photos and video streams of him eating, golfing, playing basketball, working out at the gym, etc. This past week, one of the largest Internet searches was sneaking a peak of the hearty and shirtless president-elect on the beach at his $9 million Hawaiian holiday getaway. There's even a Website committed...

WASHINGTON – Hurricane Katrina not only pulverized the Gulf Coast in 2005, it knocked the bully pulpit out from under President George W. Bush, according to two former advisers who spoke candidly about the political impact of the government's poor handling of the natural disaster. "Katrina to me was the tipping point," said Matthew Dowd, Bush's pollster and chief strategist for the 2004 presidential campaign. "The president broke his bond with the public. Once that bond was broken, he no longer had the capacity to talk to the American public. State of the Union addresses? It didn't matter. Legislative initiatives?...

When asked how they feel about President-elect Barack Obama as commander in chief, six out of 10 active-duty service members say they are uncertain or pessimistic, according to a Military Times survey. In follow-up interviews, respondents expressed concerns about Obama's lack of military service and experience leading men and women in uniform. ''Being that the Marine Corps can be sent anywhere in the world with the snap of his fingers, nobody has confidence in this guy as commander in chief," said one lance corporal who asked not to be identified. Underlying much of the uncertainty is Obama's stated 16-month timetable...

Stalin voted third most popular Russian By Dmitry Solovyov Dmitry Solovyov 17 mins ago MOSCOW (Reuters) – Soviet dictator Josef Stalin was voted Russia's third most popular historical figure in a nationwide poll that ended on Sunday, despite the famine and purges that marked his rule. The "Name of Russia" contest run by Rossiya state television channel over more than six months closed on Sunday night with a final vote via the Internet and mobile phones. It drew more than 50 million votes in a nation of 143 million. Millions of Soviet citizens perished from famine during forced collectivization, were...

WASHINGTON (AFP) – President-elect Barack Obama has replaced US President George W. Bush as the most admired man in America, according to a poll published Friday in the USA Today newspaper. One-third of the 1,008 respondents surveyed named Obama as their first or second choice, with Bush falling to a distant second after seven years as the country's most-admired man. Thirty-two percent of respondents chose Obama against five percent for Bush. It was the first time a president-elect topped the poll since Dwight Eisenhower in 1952. The poll was conducted over telephone between December 12 and 14. The newspaper reported...

Obama is most admired American: poll Dec 26 08:17 AM US/Eastern President-elect Barack Obama has replaced US President George W. Bush as the most admired man in America, according to a poll published Friday in the USA Today newspaper. One-third of the 1,008 respondents surveyed named Obama as their first or second choice, with Bush falling to a distant second after seven years as the country's most-admired man. Thirty-two percent of respondents chose Obama against five percent for Bush. It was the first time a president-elect topped the poll since Dwight Eisenhower in 1952. The poll was conducted over telephone...

A remarkable 32% of Americans choose Barack Obama as the man they most admire living anywhere in the world today, putting him in the No. 1 position on Gallup's annual Most Admired Man list. Hillary Clinton earns the top spot for Most Admired Woman, named by 20%. No one comes close to matching Obama in percentage mentions on this year's list of most admired men, based on a Dec. 12-14 USA Today/Gallup poll. By contrast, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin makes a strong showing in second place for Most Admired Woman, garnering 11% of all mentions.

<p>A new national poll suggests that almost a quarter of Americans think that Dick Cheney is the worst vice president in American history.</p> <p>Vice President Dick Cheney says he's comfortable with his accomplishments and isn't troubled by his ratings.</p> <p>Twenty-three percent of those questioned in a CNN/Opinion Research Corporation survey released Monday say that Cheney is the country's worst vice president, when compared with his predecessors.</p>

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- A new national poll suggests that almost a quarter of Americans think that Dick Cheney is the worst vice president in American history. Vice President Dick Cheney says he's comfortable with his accomplishments and isn't troubled by his ratings. Vice President Dick Cheney says he's comfortable with his accomplishments and isn't troubled by his ratings. Twenty-three percent of those questioned in a CNN/Opinion Research Corporation survey released Monday say that Cheney is the country's worst vice president, when compared with his predecessors.

ABC News and The Washington Post are using their poll to suggest massive majorities for liberalism in the new year. "Optimism High About Obama Policies, Poll Finds" is the front-page headline in Sunday’s Post. Three pie graphs showed 84 percent favor efforts to "Require electricity companies to increase the use of renewable sources of energy," 77 percent support plans to "Make major changes in the U.S. health care system," and 75 percent want Washington to "Implement policies to try to reduce global warming." Pollsters Jon Cohen and Jennifer Agiesta reported: "Majorities think Obama should help make major changes to the...

Choices Rick Warren 65% Liberal Critics 19% Can't decide 16% votes 6,480

Here’s your chance to have your voice heard and participate in the poll that is likely to be the most talked about of 2009.We’re calling this survey “What Americans Really Want … Really” because it is the first poll to allow average people the chance to prioritize what really matters to them. This survey tackles every important area of life: keeping a job, what you want for your family and the future, defining the American Dream, maintaining quality of life. There are questions on religion, on health, on retirement. It’s going to take about nine minutes of your time –...

Forty five percent (45%) of U.S. voters say it is likely President-elect Obama or one of his top campaign aides was involved in the unfolding Blagojevich scandal in Illinois, including 23% who say it is Very Likely. Just 11% say it is not at all likely, according to a new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey taken Thursday and Friday nights. Voters nationally are more skeptical than those in Illinois. Thirty-two percent (32%) of Illinois voters said in a survey late last week that there is no way Obama was involved in the Blagojevich case, while only 13% said it is...

According to an August Gallup Poll, most Americans approved of unions. Has your opinion of unions changed since the election and last weeks refusal of the UAW to make concessions?

Just over half of U.S. consumers say they won't buy a car from an auto maker that is in bankruptcy. A new poll by Rasmussen Reports of consumer found that 51 percent said they would not buy a car from a manufacturer who is in Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization. Thirty-one percent in surveyed said they would be "OK" buying a car from a bankrupt car maker. Another 18 percent weren't sure. American auto manufacturers are in dire straits with Auburn Hills, Mich.-based Chrysler LLC and Detroit, Mich.-based General Motors Corp. (NYSE: GM) nearing bankruptcy without federal loans and help. Republicans...

Charts at source ___

President-elect Obama will enter the White House with sky-high approval ratings and hopes of a dour, but optimistic, electorate on his shoulders, according to a new poll. The Hart/McInturff poll, conducted by Democratic pollster Peter Hart and Republican pollster Bill McInturff, shows two in three voters have positive views of the incoming president, and 45 percent feel very positively about Obama. That is higher than at any point before, and about 10 points higher than the previous high, recorded just before the election. Just 16 percent have negative feelings toward Obama. The poll was conducted among 1,009 adults between Dec....

PRINCETON, NJ -- George W. Bush remains popular among conservative Republicans (72% approve of him) despite his low overall approval rating. Meanwhile, moderate and liberal Republicans are as likely to disapprove as to approve of the job he is doing, and Democrats of all political orientations hold Bush in low regard. These results are based on Gallup Poll Daily tracking conducted Dec. 1-9, including interviews with more than 9,000 U.S. adults. During this time, Bush has averaged 29% job approval among all Americans -- reflecting a slight improvement from the 25% approval rating he had at the time of the...

Survey shows that Americans think federal aid for the Big Three is unfair and won't help the economy. Americans believe bailing out the Big Three is a bad idea. A full 70% of respondents indicated that a bailout is unfair to taxpayers. In addition to being unfair, the poll showed that a majority of those surveyed think a bailout would not help the economy. Sandeep Dahiya, a professor of finance at Georgetown University, said the poll results were "quite surprising." The large percentage of those opposed to the bailout "tells you much about how what is good for GM is...

Public Policy Polling of North Carolina has released a final poll of the U.S. Senate runoff, giving Republican incumbent Saxby Chambliss a “solid” 53 percent lead over Democrat Jim Martin, who weighs in at 46 percent. But PPP also attaches a caveat. The survey of 1,276 likely voters was conducted Nov. 29 and 30, and has a margin of error of plus-or-minus 2.7 percent. Here are two cogent paragraphs from the PPP analysis: Chambliss is up 71-28 on Jim Martin with whites. For Martin to win the runoff with that performance, the electorate would have to be 34% African American....

INTERVIEW SNIPPET: "Frontpage Interview’s guest today is John Ziegler, a former talk show host who is the director of the documentary Blocking 'The Path to 9/11’. He is now working on a new project, HowObamaGotElected. FP: John Ziegler, welcome to Frontpage Interview. Ziegler: Thanks. It has been a weird and rather rough time. FP: Why has it been weird and rough? Ziegler: Well, when I released the Zogby poll of Obama voters I never anticipated the level of outright hatred and irrationality that would be unleashed on me. I spent most of that week deleting nasty e-mail from my inbox...

With his runoff race ending on Tuesday, Georgia Sen. Saxby Chambliss called in the party's big guns—and Sarah Palin answered the call, stumping across the state today and tomorrow. It's a clear sign of her stature within the party. Palin’s flash emergence on the national stage has left her as well positioned as any Republican to make a serious run for the GOP nomination in 2012, yet waning support from the political center may threaten her presidential ambitions, according to a Politico analysis of public polling. A Gallup poll of Republican voters released last Friday found Palin atop a field...

Washington, DC -- The second poll in a week finds Republicans voters placing Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin at the top of their list for potential Republican presidential candidates in 2012. GOP voters say the pro-life running for to John McCain is their top choice for a nominee against Barack Obama's potential re-election bid.

PARIS - There is both growing public reluctance to make personal sacrifices and a distinct lack of enthusiasm for the major international efforts now underway to battle climate change, according to findings of a poll of 12,000 citizens in 11 countries, including Canada. Results of the poll were released this week in advance of the start of a major international conference in Poland where delegates are considering steps toward a new international climate-change treaty to replace the Kyoto Protocol, which expires in 2012. There already are reports emerging that some countries, such as coal-dependent Poland, are pushing for special treatment...

America's ignorance of Obama 'disturbing' Chad Groening - OneNewsNow - November 24, 2008 A pro-family activist and former presidential candidate says a recent editorial in a leading business publication illustrates just how little the American voting public knows about president-elect Barack Obama. Two months before the presidential election, Investors Business Daily (IBD) published an editorial entitled "Michelle's Boot Camps for Radicals." It revealed that Barack Obama was a founding member of the board of a publicly funded non-profit organization known as Public Allies, but he resigned when his wife Michelle became executive director of the Chicago chapter of Public Allies...

Nearly half of U.S. voters (49%) say the United States should not close the terrorist prison camp at Guantanamo Naval Base in Cuba, but the identical number (49%) also say Barack Obama is Very likely to close it in the first year of his presidency. Only 32% of voters say the Guantanamo prison camp should be closed, according to a new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey. One-out-of-five (19%) are undecided. The new findings mark a drop in support for the special prison camp for terrorists where the United States detains about 250 inmates. In a survey in late July, 59%...

According to a new poll by Zogby and the Independent Film Channel the internet is now more trusted than TV and print news combined. Wired News and LGF reported: The web is the most trusted news medium (over TV and print combined), and Fox News is the most trusted TV news source, according to results from a new Zogby poll commissioned by the Independent Film Channel (pdf). Fox ruled with 39.3 percent of those polled beating out CNN at 16 percent and MSNBC at 15 percent. These results are good fodder for Fox in defending its claims of being "Fair...

On the eve of a Republican National Convention invoking 9/11 symbols, sound bytes and imagery, half (49.3%) of New York City residents and 41% of New York citizens overall say that some of our leaders "knew in advance that attacks were planned on or around September 11, 2001, and that they consciously failed to act," according to the poll conducted by Zogby International. The poll of New York residents was conducted from Tuesday August 24 through Thursday August 26, 2004. Overall results have a margin of sampling error of +/-3.5.

They’re asking whether various candidates should run, not who the nominee should be, but it’s a fair proxy for enthusiasm. 67 percent say yes to the ‘Cuda, 62 to Romney, 61 to Huck. No one else cracks 50. Among conservative Republicans, it’s Palin 73, Huck 65, Mitt 64; among moderates and liberals, Mitt 59, Palin 48, Huck 46. Based on those numbers, it’s actually Romney who’s best positioned to unite the party. The more I think about it, the more skeptical I am that all three will run. Even I’m not pessimistic enough to believe the recession will last until...

Andrew Gelman, in Chicago for an earlier scheduled academic conference, couldn't score a ticket to Grant Park to see Barack Obama claim victory election night. He thought of joining friends for their own party, but something was nagging at him. "I went back to my hotel room and started making graphs," says Gelman, a physicist turned statistician and political scientist who once worked for Bell Labs in Murray Hill. "I wanted to see if Obama's victory fit." If the election of an African-American fit the elaborate statistical models he had created for a book just published by the Princeton University...

Pollster John Zogby has rejected a conservative commentator’s offer to sponsor a poll to test the knowledge of people who voted for John McCain. The commentator was proposing to mirror a poll of Obama voters that caused a political uproar when it suggested that Obama supporters didn’t know what they were voting for.

No specifics on the how and why, but since party orthodoxy’s already firmly hawkish, pro-life, anti-gay marriage, and anti-amnesty (among the grassroots, at least, on that last one), presumably what we’re talking about here is spending and bailout backlash. Shouldn’t be a problem: The One will give the GOP’s congressional minority plenty to dislike, including a bailout of the Big Three to pound the table about. No?The House, at least, is heading right: Pence, who was unanimously voted in as the Republican Conference Chairman on Wednesday, told CNSNews.com that conservatism is the current trend among House Republicans.“What I saw today...

Wednesday, November 19, 2008 Email a Friend Email to a Friend Republican incumbent Saxby Chambliss holds a four-point lead over Democratic challenger Jim Martin in Georgia’s closely-watched Senate runoff race, according to the first Rasmussen Reports survey in the state since Election Day. Chambliss leads 50% to 46%, with the vote scheduled for December 2. Four percent (4%) are undecided. However, runoff elections typically have lower voter turnout than general elections and can be impacted in either direction by organized get-out-the-vote efforts. In Georgia, although Chambliss defeated Martin on Election Day, with a third-party candidate in the race, he failed...

Released: November 18, 2008 Zogby Poll: Almost No Obama Voters Ace Election Test Survey finds most Obama voters remembered negative coverage of McCain/Palin statements but struggled to correctly answer questions about coverage associated with Obama/Biden UTICA, New York -- Just 2% of voters who supported Barack Obama on Election Day obtained perfect or near-perfect scores on a post election test which gauged their knowledge of statements and scandals associated with the presidential tickets during the campaign, a new Zogby International telephone poll shows. Zogby Statement on Ziegler poll: Only 54% of Obama voters were able to answer at least half...

As voters left the polls on Election Day, many were asked how they would have voted if the election match-up were between Hillary Clinton and John McCain rather than Barack Obama and McCain. 52 percent said they would have backed the former Democratic candidate; 41 percent would have voted for McCain, wider than Obama’s 7-point margin over McCain.

WASHINGTON – People want the tax cuts promised during the presidential campaign, but may be willing to wait while President-elect Obama takes on the larger issue of fixing the economy.

Utopia cometh. In the CNN/Opinion Research Corp. survey released Tuesday, 59 percent of those questioned said Democratic control of both the executive and legislative branches will be good for the country, compared with 38 percent saying such one-party control will be bad.“That much good will from the public opens a window of opportunity for the Democrats,� said CNN Polling Director Keating Holland. “But the public expects results, and may not listen to excuses for very long if a Democratic Congress and a Democratic White House can’t get their act together in time.� The poll also indicates that the public has...

WASHINGTON - In one of the economy's darkest hours in decades, it looks as if people are taking Barack Obama up on his exhortations for hope and change. Seven in 10, or 72 percent, voice confidence the president-elect will make the changes needed to revive the stalling economy, according to an Associated Press-GfK poll released Tuesday. Underscoring how widely the public is counting on its new leader, 44 percent of Republicans joined nearly all Democrats and most independents in expressing that belief.

WASHINGTON – In one of the economy's darkest hours in decades, it looks as if people are taking Barack Obama up on his exhortations for hope and change. Seven in 10, or 72 percent, voice confidence the president-elect will make the changes needed to revive the stalling economy, according to an Associated Press-GfK poll released Tuesday. Underscoring how widely the public is counting on its new leader, 44 percent of Republicans joined nearly all Democrats and most independents in expressing that belief. The poll shows trust in Obama's ability to succeed is even broader, at least for now. Sixty-eight percent...

WASHINGTON (CNN) – As President-elect Obama visits the White House, a new national poll suggests that the current occupant of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue is the most unpopular president in the six decades since presidential approval ratings were first measured. Seventy-six percent of those questioned in a CNN/Opinion Research Corporation survey released Monday disapprove of how George W. Bush is handling his job as President. That's an all-time high in CNN polling, or in Gallup polling dating back to World War II. "No other president's disapproval rating has gone higher than 70 percent. Bush has managed to do that three times...

Barack Obama won the White House by campaigning against an unpopular incumbent in a time of economic anxiety and lingering foreign policy concerns. He offered voters an upbeat message, praised the nation as a land of opportunity, promised tax cuts to just about everyone, and overcame doubts about his experience with a strong performance in the presidential debates. Does this sound familiar? It should. Mr. Obama followed the approach that worked for Ronald Reagan. His victory confirmed that voters still embrace the guiding beliefs of the Reagan era. During Reagan's campaign, the nation suffered from high unemployment and high inflation....