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Michael Steele and the GOP

Michael Steele’s election as chairman of the Republican National Committee puts him in an unusual position: an African-American leading a political party that traditionally has received precious little support from blacks. Only 4 percent of blacks voted for the GOP...

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January 30, 2009 in Partisanship/Party ID | Permalink | User Comments (37)

How Could They?

How could they? Here's how. "They" are the House Republicans, zero of whom voted for President Obama's economic stimulus package yesterday. What makes them - depending on your perspective - courageous or foolish enough to stand against a popular new...

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January 29, 2009 in Economy, Partisanship/Party ID | Permalink | User Comments (118)

Bipartisanship on the Stimulus: Clean Power and... Um...

When it comes to stimulus spending, bipartisanship starts with alternative energy. The problem: It also pretty much ends there. Clean power is a perennial favorite in public opinion – it sounds, well, clean, and a welcome respite from that longtime...

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January 26, 2009 in Environment and Energy, Partisanship/Party ID | Permalink | User Comments (21)

Gitmo and Torture: Slam Dunks?

Majorities of Americans support Barack Obama’s positions on Guantanamo and the torture of terrorism suspects – but with enough doubters to make those policies something less than a slam dunk in terms of public opinion. Obama’s made both marquee issues...

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January 21, 2009 in National Security/Terrorism | Permalink | User Comments (50)

Post-Partisanship? Let's See

The buzz surrounding Barack Obama’s inauguration – made explicit in his address today – is the prospect of a post-partisan presidency. The reality: Let’s see. Part of the challenge is that post-partisanship means bridging fundamentally substantive political divisions – itself...

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January 20, 2009 in Partisanship/Party ID | Permalink | User Comments (14)

The Inauguration Audience

Whatever he does for the economy in the long term, Barack Obama’s inauguration may not be the best thing for the nation’s productivity tomorrow: Three in four Americans plan to watch or listen in as the 44th president takes office....

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January 19, 2009 | Permalink | User Comments (11)

The View From Kenya

High expectations of Barack Obama are not limited to the United States: They've soared to near-unanimity in his ancestral Kenya, to some extent bridging tribal tensions that spilled into violence there last year. Obama's father was Kenyan and he has...

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January 16, 2009 in International Polls | Permalink | User Comments (2)

A Polling Fairy Tale

Once upon a time an utterly inconsequential poll made the rounds - but one that underscored a highly consequential question in my corner of the world, and, ultimately, yours: What kind of standards news organizations apply to the data they...

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January 15, 2009 in Problem Polls | Permalink | User Comments (9)

Bush: A Crib Sheet

With the president's closing news conference an hour away, here's a quick summary of his highs and lows in public approval. There were more of the latter; as I reported in a retrospective last week, Bush never once attained majority...

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January 12, 2009 | Permalink | User Comments (4)

Told Ya

Told ya so. OK, that is not terribly polite. But when it comes to the holiday shopping season, it's true, and it tells us something about the utility of public opinion polls that reaches well outside the little hothouse of...

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January 8, 2009 in Economy | Permalink | User Comments (2)