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Polls reported last week apparently show that Robert Mueller is more popular than Donald Trump.  According to one poll conducted for CNN, the 50% who approve of Mueller’s handling of his collusion investigation “outpaces President Donald Trump's approval rating on the matter by 20 points.”  A poll of 600 likely voters conducted for the Detroit News and WDIV-TV found 63% support for the Mueller investigation, and 46% “strongly” favoring it, “despite Trump’s frequent criticism of the inquiry as a tainted ‘witch hunt.’”   Between both polls, support for impeachment ranges from 41 to 47%.  The percentage who share Trump’s view...

Complete Headline: Bill Clinton reminds voters that Republicans 'slobbered all over' Hillary with love before she ran for president and now have cast her as the 'Wicked Witch of the West' Bill Clinton explained in colorful language why his wife might have a likability problem with voters He told an audience of supporters in California today that if mud was thrown at them constantly their polling numbers would go down too 'Even if none of it's true,' the former president said, reminding the audience that the Republicans used to love Hillary Bill Clinton tried to explain why his wife is...

You can’t win if you’re this disliked. Former Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-N.Y.) is pretty sanguine about the Democratic Party’s chances in a general election should Donald Trump become the Republican Party’s nominee. Unlike the labor wing of the party, which worries about Trump’s appeal to working-class white voters, and operatives who fear a scorched-earth campaign, Weiner says the real estate tycoon’s inherent flaws will ultimately doom his candidacy. Put simply, Trump’s campaign reminds Weiner of his own race for mayor of New York City in 2013. “Donald Trump, if he’s the nominee, with 65 percent negatives, is not going to...

<p>Critics of Donald Trump’s rise in the Republican polls have now turned on large swaths of the Republican base in a fit of pique and frustration.</p> <p>Unable to understand how a man without pronounced conservative political positions, a man who has never held elected office, a man who routinely drops vulgar and demeaning language has skyrocketed to reportedly triple his next contender in the latest polls, these commentators have turned to name-calling themselves. This time, they target not Trump himself, but his followers.</p>

President Obama has reached Reagan-like levels of popularity in the twilight of his tenure, but analysts say his bounce can be attributed largely to the fact that he is fading into the political background as the next presidential race kicks into high gear and as Congress claims a surprising number of concrete legislative accomplishments. Mr. Obama’s job approval rating stands at 46.4 percent, his highest mark in nearly two years, according to a recent Gallup survey. The figure puts him in the company of President Reagan, whose approval rating also hovered around 46 percent at the same point in his...

When will the improving American economy translate into higher approval ratings for President Obama? It will take time. But if recent trends continue, Mr. Obama’s political standing is likely to strengthen. The economy is turning upward. Job growth is increasing, as The Upshot’s Neil Irwin has noted, and wage and income growth – which have been largely nonexistent for years – are likely to pick up. The latest estimate shows G.D.P. grew at a rate of 5 percent in the third quarter, the fastest rate since 2003. The political currents are seemingly running in the opposite direction from the economy,...

President Barack Obama suffered a bit of an embarrassment on Sunday, when he made a rare appearance on the campaign trail but attendees chose to leave as he spoke. According to Reuters, Obama’s appearance came at a rally to support the Democratic candidate for governor in Maryland. With approval levels hovering around record lows, Obama has spent most of his campaign-related efforts this year raising money for struggling Democrats, who risk losing control of the U.S. Senate in the November 4 midterm election. Most candidates from his party have been wary of appearing with him during their election races because...

Good news for Obama, I guess. The group he actually secretly belongs to is slightly more popular than the group his harshest critics accuse him of secretly belonging to. Jews, Catholics and evangelical Christians are viewed warmly by the American public. When asked to rate each group on a “feeling thermometer” ranging from 0 to 100 – where 0 reflects the coldest, most negative possible rating and 100 the warmest, most positive rating – all three groups receive an average rating of 60 or higher (63 for Jews, 62 for Catholics and 61 for evangelical Christians). And 44% of...

Nina Moreyeva, a Moscow resident who lives on a pension, doesn't agree with the widespread perception in the West that Russian President Vladimir Putin has been too muscular in his actions in Ukraine. Quite the opposite. She believes Russia had the right to annex the Ukrainian territory of Crimea – even if it meant going to war with Kiev. "Crimea is deep in our history," she says. "I have never accepted that it was given to Ukraine" by former Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev in 1954. Nor is she worried about the West imposing sanctions. "Russia shouldn't be under anyone's thumb,"...

Speech taboos are meant to silence patriotic dissentWhen I was in high school in Detroit, there was a great deal of emphasis on clothing. As I became increasingly interested in fitting in with the “in crowd,” fashion supplanted academic achievement in my hierarchy of importance. My grades plummeted and I became a person who was less pleasant and more self-absorbed. My mother was very disappointed, because she thought I had enough insight and intelligence to avoid the flypaper trap of acting like everyone else. Fortunately, after wasting a year pursuing acceptance, I realized that my dreams went far beyond silk...

To clarify, he’s the least popular incumbent in his home state among the many states that PPP has polled this year. This is a survey of Arizona, not of the entire U.S., in case that makes a difference to you. And maybe it should: A former national nominee would probably poll better nationally, based on pure name recognition (and maybe some sympathy for his defeat), than he might among locals who are following his Senate votes day to day.But let’s not let the fine print spoil this. At last, my friends, people of all partisan stripes have found something they...

<p>BARBARA WALTERS: I know that by now, you both have fairly thick skins. But when you hear your husband being booed, the president, at a recent basketball game, how do you feel?</p>

What’s Nancy Pelosi doing right? While the other top congressional leaders are fading, the House minority leader and former speaker is on the rise, according to the latest Quinnipiac University Thermometer poll, which shows the California Democrat is gaining popularity as one of the nation’s top political figures. **SNIP** While Democrats give her a 64.2 percent warmth rating, the best among the four leaders, self-identified Republicans score her at 19.8, the lowest of the group.

(Reuters) - Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal, one of the nation's most prominent Republicans and a possible 2016 presidential candidate, has fallen out of favor with local voters, and his bold plan to scrap the state income tax is running into trouble. Jindal was re-elected to a second term with two-thirds of the vote in 2011. But his Louisiana approval rating was down to 38 percent in a recent poll, worse than Democratic President Barack Obama in one of the most conservative states. The poll suggested voters think he is spending more time traveling outside the state and burnishing his credentials...

Lady Gaga has been named as the most popular women on web. COED Magazine has compiled a list based on Google search results, sporting some surprises-Justin Bieber comes in at No. 7, ABC News reported. The list also includes Washington's famous women like former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin at No. 18, first lady Michelle Obama at No. 21 and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton at No. 32. Here are the top 50: 1. Lady Gaga 2. Kesha 3. Madonna 4. Beyoncé 5. Rihanna 6. Britney Spears 7. Justin Bieber 8. Miley Cyrus 9. Paris Hilton 10. Avril Lavigne....

President Obama is riding a wave of personal popularity into his second term, with his highest favorability ratings since his first year in office, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll.Fully 60 percent of Americans have a favorable impression of Obama in the new poll, up slightly from October but a clear shift in opinion from an election year in which his ratings hovered in the mid-to-low 50s. And by 39 percent to 26 percent, the president now has more “strongly” positive ratings than strongly negative reviews, breaking a two-year stretch in which intense opposition was on par...

A perplexed Andrea Mitchell on Thursday highlighted a new NBC poll finding high favorability numbers for the National Rifle Association, results she deemed "surprising." The veteran journalist proclaimed: "The NRA brand has been fairly toxic in many of the debates, the gun debates especially since Newtown, but their membership base is broad and deep." One reason the brand has been "toxic" is because of relentlessly negative coverage from reporters. Yet, NBC political editor Mark Murray explained, "Despite a lot of the criticism the NRA has received in the month after the Newtown shootings, the NRA has a 41 percent favorable...

After election analysis can be interesting, but when it comes from the same people who got the pre-election analysis wrong it should be taken with many grains of salt. After election reactions can also be rather elitist. I know it is easy to want to disparage those who voted against a supported candidate in a “How dare you” tone. Political junkies kind of expect everybody else to be political junkies.Still I was trying to understand the dynamics of this election and was not really finding a key to understanding it. I was listening to Al Kresta and he said something...

Regardless of the outcome of Tuesday’s presidential election, Barack Obama will immediately become a lame duck. That is not to say he will be powerless, but he will never again have to face the wrath of American voters. Even if Mitt Romney prevails tomorrow (which I think he will), President Obama will have 75 days to ram through any number of economically destructive regulations and executive orders. Make no mistake, an aggressive administration can push things across the finish line in the waning days regardless of their popularity; and that is especially true of this administration. Prior to the election,...

Can there be political bubbles like financial bubbles? Financial bubbles, inflated by hopes and dreams, burst when reality negates any possibility that those hopes and dreams will be realized. At that point, sky high stock or bond or real estate prices come crashing down to earth. Can the same thing happen in politics? Can a skilled politician, who has become popular with soaring rhetoric and promises, deflate when it starts becoming clear that he is not going to deliver? Of course, I am thinking about our president. Mitt Romney demonstrated in the first presidential debate that the considerable gap between...