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The Hispanic Vote

Today's back-to-back appearances by John McCain and Barack Obama before the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials encourage another look at Hispanics as a voting group – not least because there are some misperceptions about the Hispanic vote...

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June 28, 2008 in 2008 General Election, Race | Permalink | User Comments (5)

Guns and the Court

Most Americans long have supported handgun ownership, and a big majority believes the Constitution allows citizens – not just militias – to possess firearms. That sentence might be slightly at odds with other things you’ve heard about public attitudes about...

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June 26, 2008 in Social Issues | Permalink | User Comments (28)

Drill Here, Get Gas

John McCain’s push on energy policy today is good cause for a quick review of recent data. Let’s start with one approach I don’t love. A recent Gallup poll asked people if, “to attempt to reduce the price of gasoline,”...

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June 17, 2008 in 2008 General Election, Environment and Energy | Permalink | User Comments (21)

Gitmo Reax

Per our correspondent Jan Crawford Greenburg, a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing today may generate some reflections on last week’s Supreme Court ruling giving Guantanamo detainees the right of appeal in civilian courts. Our latest poll shows that ruling is...

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June 17, 2008 in National Security/Terrorism | Permalink | User Comments (8)

SCOTUS, Security and Civil Rights

What’s fascinating about today’s sharply divided U.S. Supreme Court ruling on GITMO detentions is the extent to which the court’s debate mirrors the same tensions between civil rights and terrorism protection that exist in society more broadly. The difference is...

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June 12, 2008 in National Security/Terrorism | Permalink | User Comments (9)

HRC for VP?

Support among Democrats for having Barack Obama pick Hillary Clinton as his running mate is just that – support, but well short of demand. In fact it’s a somewhat polarizing issue – and perhaps increasingly so – between Obama's and...

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June 6, 2008 in 2008 General Election | Permalink | User Comments (28)

39 States, 68 Contests, 79,281 Interviews

I filed a piece yesterday summarizing what we’ve learned from the exit polls across this primary season – a blueprint to the presumptive nominees’ strengths and weaknesses as they square off for the general election. We’ve now added the data...

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June 4, 2008 in 2008 Primaries | Permalink | User Comments (12)

Vote Tally: Can We Just Call it a Tie?

Barack Obama won the delegates, but who won the vote? We’ll never know for sure. But results from the South Dakota and Montana primaries – where Obama netted a total of 17,128 votes – do allow us to compute final...

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June 4, 2008 in 2008 Primaries | Permalink | User Comments (72)

Campaign Ad Spending: Fun With Numbers

A report today by a study group at the University of Wisconsin estimates that the presidential candidates have spent nearly $200 million on television advertising this election cycle. Which makes it time for some fun with numbers. The Wisconsin Advertising...

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June 2, 2008 in 2008 Primaries | Permalink | User Comments (0)

Dicing the Democratic Vote

Hillary Clinton is still contending that she's ahead in the Democratic popular vote, repeating that claim Sunday in a TV ad airing in Montana and South Dakota. But figuring in the DNC's weekend machinations, there are reasonable arguments to the...

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June 1, 2008 in 2008 Primaries | Permalink | User Comments (53)