Rick Santorum Gaining Ground in Iowa

Rick Santorum is finally rising in the polls in Iowa. And Santorum gained a key evangelical Christian leader's endorsement Tuesday.

From The Christian Science Monitor

By Liz Marlantes

Republican presidential candidate, former Penn. Sen. Rick Santorum, speaks in Osceola, Iowa, Dec. 19, 2011.

(AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)

The headline out of the latest Rassmussen poll surveying Republican voters in Iowa is all about Newt Gingrich’s continuing slide. The poll shows Gingrich now in third place, with 17 percent, behind Mitt Romney (25 percent) and Ron Paul (20 percent).

But just as interesting to Decoder is the fact that the poll also shows former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum now in fourth place, with 10 percent (tied with the other Rick, Perry). That’s the best result for Santorum so far this cycle. In fact, it’s the first significant movement he’s had in any poll at all - and, needless to say, it’s coming at an opportune time.

Daily Presidential Tracking Poll: Highest Negative Ever

The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Tuesday shows that 19% of the nation's voters Strongly Approve of the way that Barack Obama is performing his role as president. Forty-five percent (45%) Strongly Disapprove, giving Obama a Presidential Approval Index rating of -26 (see trends).

This is the lowest Approval Index rating yet measured for President Obama. The previous low was -24 reached yesterday and also in September 2010. Additionally, the level of Strong Approval matches the lowest yet recorded. By way of comparison, President Bush had ratings near the end of his second term in the minus 30s.

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Presidential Tracking Poll for Wednesday

With theatrical productions in the Oval Office, trips to the Gulf interrupting golf games, and the "ass kicking" of Big Oil all failing to restore adoration for The One, can a new manufactured crisis be far off? Only Jimmy Carter comes out of this nightmare a winner; he's no longer America's worst ever President.

The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Wednesday shows that 24% of the nation's voters Strongly Approve of the way that Barack Obama is performing his role as president. Forty-four percent (44%) Strongly Disapprove, giving Obama a Presidential Approval Index rating of -20 (see trends).

Forty-eight percent (48%) of Democrats Strongly Approve while 75% of Republicans Strongly Disapprove. Among those not affiliated with either major party, 12% Strongly Approve and 52% Strongly Disapprove.

These results are based upon nightly telephone interviews and reported on a three-day rolling average basis. As a result, today’s results are based almost entirely on interviews conducted before the president’s speech to the nation. The impact of the president’s speech will be seen over the next several days.

Heading into the speech, 30% of voters gave President Obama good or excellent marks for handling the oil spill. Forty-five percent (45%) said he was doing a poor job. Most voters (57%) still favor offshore oil drilling.

On another topic, most Americans (53%) continue to believe the bailout of General Motors and Chrysler was a bad idea.

The Presidential Approval Index is calculated by subtracting the number who Strongly Disapprove from the number who Strongly Approve. It is updated daily at 9:30 a.m. Eastern (sign up for free daily e-mail update). Updates are also available on Twitter and Facebook.

Overall, 42% of voters say they at least somewhat approve of the president's performance. That’s the lowest level of approval yet recorded for this president. Fifty-seven percent (57%) now disapprove. Those are the lowest ratings yet recorded for this president. The president’s approval rating has held steady in the 46% - 47% range for six months and it remains to be seen whether this new low is merely statistical noise or the start of a lasting change.

The Rasmussen Reports Media Meter shows that media coverage of President Obama has been 41% positive over the past week. Since the passage of the health care law, coverage has ranged from a high of 60% positive to a low of 39% positive.

New state polling shows that Republicans are ahead in both the Colorado and South Dakota races for Governor.

70% in Massachusetts Favor Ban on Public Benefits For Illegal Immigrants

We've often accused Senator Lindsay Grahamnesty of being the third Senator from Massachusetts. But with the release of a new Rasmussen Poll, we have concluded that is unfair - to Massachusetts. Lindsay is too liberal for the home of the tea party movement.

We suspect that a newly aroused electorate in Massachusetts and beyond has far more in store than just the election of Republican Scott Brown to Ted Kennedy's seat.

Seventy percent (70%) of Massachusetts voters favor a proposal recently rejected by the state legislature that would stop illegal immigrants from receiving public benefits.

A new Rasmussen Reports telephone survey shows that just 17% oppose the proposal to prevent illegal immigrants from gaining access to public housing, unemployment benefits, welfare or workers compensation. Thirteen percent (13%) more are not sure.

The proposal failed to pass in the Democratically-controlled State House last month by a 75 to 82 vote.

Fifty percent (50%) of voters in Massachusetts oppose a boycott of Arizona like the one just passed by Boston City Council to protest that state’s new law cracking down on illegal immigration. Thirty-four percent (34%) favor such a boycott, while another 16% are undecided.

But just 41% favor a law like Arizona’s that empowers local police to stop anyone they suspect of being an illegal immigrant. Forty-eight percent (48%) oppose such a law. Eleven percent (11%) are not sure.

Nationally, 58% support a law like the one recently adopted in Arizona.

The survey of 500 Likely Voters in Massachusetts was conducted on May 10, 2010 by Rasmussen Reports. The margin of sampling error is +/- 4.5 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence. Field work for all Rasmussen Reports surveys is conducted by Pulse Opinion Research, LLC. See methodology.

Sixty-seven percent (67%) of Bay State voters are at least somewhat concerned that a law like Arizona’s might violate the civil rights of some U.S. citizens while 30% don’t share that concern. Those figures include 40% who are Very Concerned and 11% who are Not At All Concerned.

Fifty-eight percent (58%) favor a welcoming immigration policy that only excludes “national security threats, criminals and those who would come here to live off our welfare system.” Just 23% disagree with such a policy. This is comparable to findings among voters nationwide.

Governor Deval Patrick yesterday criticized the public benefits proposal and denounced the Arizona bill, saying he would veto a similar law if passed by the state legislature. However, he also said the state would not follow Boston’s example and divest state funds from Arizona as a protest.

His two chief opponents for governor, Republican Charlie Banker and Democrat-turned-independent Tim Cahill, both favor the legislation barring illegal immigrants from public benefits. Cahill has defended the Arizona law; Baker has not commented in detail on it.

Patrick now earns 45% of the vote in his bid for reelection to Baker’s 31% and Cahill’s 14%.

Republicans and voters not affiliated with either party overwhelmingly support the proposal that would stop illegal immigrants from getting public benefits, as do 53% of Democrats.

But 52% of Democratic voters favor a boycott of Arizona, while 74% of Republicans and 66% of unaffiliateds oppose it.

When it comes to having a law like Arizona’s, however, 64% of GOP voters are in favor of it, but 68%of Democrats are opposed. Among unaffiliated voters in Massachusetts, 46% favor such a law, while 39% oppose it.

Americans Deserting Democrat Party in Record Numbers

Number of Democrats Falls to New Low, Down Six Points Since Election 2008

From Rasmussen Reports

In December, the number of Americans identifying themselves as Democrats fell to the lowest level recorded in more than seven years of monthly tracking by Rasmussen Reports.

Currently, 35.5% of American adults view themselves as Democrats. That’s down from 36.0 a month ago and from 37.8% in October. Prior to December, the lowest total ever recorded for Democrats was 35.9%, a figure that was reached twice in 2005. See the History of Party Trends from January 2004 to the present.

The number of Republicans inched up by a point in December to 34.0%. That’s the highest total for Republicans since December 2007, just before the 2008 presidential campaign season began.

However, the number of Republicans in the country is essentially no different today than it was in November 2008 when Barack Obama was elected president.

The change since Obama’s election is that the number of Democrats has fallen by six percentage points and the number of voters not affiliated with either major party has grown by six. The number of adults not affiliated with either party is currently at 30.6%, up from 24.7% in November 2008.

Rasmussen Reports tracks this information based on telephone interviews with approximately 15,000 adults per month and has been doing so since November 2002. The margin of error for the full sample is less than one percentage point, with a 95% level of confidence.

Despite the changes, there are still more Democrats than Republicans in the nation. But the gap is down to 1.5 percentage points, the smallest since August 2005.

Between November 2004 and 2006, the Democratic advantage in partisan identification grew by 4.5 percentage points. That foreshadowed the Democrats' big gains in the 2006 midterm elections. The gap grew by another 1.5 percentage points between November 2006 and 2008 heading into the election of President Obama.

The gap between the parties is now very similar to the gap in November 2004, when George W. Bush won reelection. However, at that time, both parties had more support, and fewer were unaffiliated with either party. The number of unaffiliateds typically declines as major elections draw near.

Keep in mind that figures reported in this article are for all adults, not likely voters. Republicans are a bit more likely to participate in elections than Democrats.

Obama's overall approval rating in the Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll fell below 50% for the first time in July. A month-by-month review of the president’s ratings shows that they held steady in August and September before declining over the past several months.

Data from our monthly partisan identification survey is used to set weighting targets for other Rasmussen Reports surveys. The targets are based on results from the previous three months.

When Obama was inaugurated last January, Democrats had a seven-point lead on the Generic Congressional Ballot. Republicans now have a five-point advantage. That change has been brought about partly by the declining number of Democrats and partly by the fact that unaffiliated voters are now more supportive of the GOP.

Rasmussen Reports has released Senate polls for Arkansas, Colorado, Nevada, Illinois, Connecticut, Missouri, North Dakota, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Florida, and California. Collectively, these polls define a difficult political environment for Democrats as 2010 begins. But there's still a long way to go until November, so Democrats have time to implement damage control efforts.

Rasmussen Reports also has released polls on the 2010 governor’s races in Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina and Texas.

GOP 2012: Huckabee 29%, Romney 24%, Palin 18%

From Rasmussen Reports

Twenty-nine percent (29%) of Republican voters nationwide say former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee is their pick to represent the GOP in the 2012 Presidential campaign. The latest Rasmussen Reports telephone survey finds that 24% prefer former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney while 18% would cast their vote for former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin.

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich gets 14% of the vote while Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty gets 4%. Six percent (6%) of GOP voters prefer some other candidate while 7% remain undecided.

These numbers reflect an improvement for Huckabee since July when the three candidates were virtually even. Huckabee's gain appears to be Palin's loss as Romney's support has barely changed.

The numbers for Huckabee and Romney look even stronger when GOP voters were asked which candidate they would least like to see get the nomination. Pawlenty came on top in that category with 28%. Palin was second at 21% while 20% named Gingrich. Romney and Huckabee were in the single digits with 9% and 8% respectively.

Huckabee and Romney are viewed favorably by 78% of Republican voters, Palin by 75%. Gingrich earns favorably reviews from 69% while Pawlenty is less well known and gets a positive assessment from 45% of Republicans.

Other data from the survey, including head-to-head match-ups with individual candidates, will be released over the weekend.

Republican voters are very confident their nominee could be the next President of the United States. Eighty-one percent (81%) of the GOP faithful say that it's at least somewhat likely the Republican nominee will defeat Barack Obama in 2012. Fifty percent (50%) say it's Very Likely.

Romney leads all prospects among voters who attend church once a month or less. Huckabee leads among more frequent churchgoers. Huckabee holds a huge lead among Evangelical Christians with Palin in second and Romney a distant third. Huckabee and Romney are essentially even among other Protestants while Romney has the edge among Catholics.

Romney leads among Republicans earning more than $75,000 a year while Huckabee leads among those who earn less.

Obama Approval Numbers Still Dropping, While Petitions Mount Against Health Care Plan

From LifeSiteNews
By Kathleen Gilbert

A series of recent public opinion polls and anti-Obamacare petitions have shown that President Obama and his health care overhaul are continuing to decline in popularity at the end of a turbulent Congressional recess.

The public disapproval rating of Obama's handling of health care has jumped nine points since July to 52 per cent, according to an Associated Press-GfK survey released today. In the same poll, 49 said they disapproved of Obama's overall performance, up from 42 per cent in July.

The most recent Rasmussen Reports Daily Presidential Tracking Poll shows that 31 per cent of the nation's voters strongly approve of Obama's presidential performance, while 39 per cent said they strongly disapprove, giving Obama a Presidential Approval Index rating of -8.

Scott Rasmussen noted in an August Wall Street Journal opinion piece that the polls indicate Obama's efforts to galvanize support for his plan have grim prospects of success: only 25 per cent of American voters strongly favor the health care reform, while 41 per cent strongly oppose it. Among independent voters in August, 60 per cent opposed the bill while 35 per cent were in favor, with 47 per cent strongly opposed and 16 per cent strongly favoring.

Obama is scheduled to speak today to a joint session of Congress, presumably the latest attempt to persuade reluctant bipartisan lawmakers to accept his health reform agenda.

A Zogby Interactive Survey released August 31 noted that the August drop in support ran across several of Obama's core constituencies. Democrats, liberals, African-Americans, and young voters in the survey who approved of Obama's job performance all showed a drop of about 8-9 points since July 24.

Meanwhile, an online petition this summer sponsored by Townhall.com called "Free Our Healthcare Now" has raced across the Internet, and now touts over 1.3 million signatures - which its sponsors say makes it the largest public policy petition ever delivered.

The anti-Obama group Grassfire.org claims that its own online petition against the health care overhaul has reached nearly half a million signatures.

Grassfire is also circulating a critique of the health care overhaul by ABC reporter John Stossel, republished by America's News Today on Youtube last month.

In the report, Stossel encapsulates many of the fears expressed by citizens across the country in townhall meetings by showing the pitfalls of government-run health care systems. Though President Obama has denied that he intends to bring about a single-payer health care system, the ABC report points to a video of then-Senator Obama specifically advocating for a "single-payer health care system."

Another video showing Obama advocating for a single-payer plan in 2003 and 2007, and linked by the Drudge Report, was blasted by the White House early last month as "taking sentences and phrases out of context and cobbling them together to leave a very false impression" of the president's stated position. The White House attempted to prove its position by showing more recent videos of Obama denying a future government takeover. However, the Drudge Report quickly linked to an uncut version of Obama's 2003 remarks that verified the message of the first video. The White House did not respond to the later video.

Rasmussen: 57% Would Vote to Replace Entire Congress

From Rasmussen Reports

If they could vote to keep or replace the entire Congress, just 25% of voters nationwide would keep the current batch of legislators.

A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 57% would vote to replace the entire Congress and start all over again. Eighteen percent (18%) are not sure how they would vote.

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Obama Poll Numbers Continue to Plummet

From The Washington Times
By Matthew Mosk and Christina Bellantoni

President Obama set out for a weeklong family vacation Sunday facing the first stiff headwind of his presidency, with public polls showing his popularity has dipped as he has attempted an overhaul of the nation's ailing health care system.

A series of national surveys has confirmed what was becoming clear as large groups of protesters rallied outside the speeches and town-hall events the president hosted last week in Western states.

The Rasmussen Reports daily tracking poll released Sunday showed that 41 percent of voters strongly disapprove of Mr. Obama's performance as president, compared with 27 percent who strongly approved. Rasmussen said those numbers are the worst ever for Mr. Obama. The 14-point gap between the two numbers is more than double the six-point difference in the Rasmussen poll as recently as Thursday.

The total of "disapproval" responses, of whatever strength, topped the approval numbers by 51 percent to 48 percent.

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Obama's Approval Rating: The Tide Turns

Only six months into his radical regime, Obama's poll numbers are beginning to tank. Rasmussen's Presidential Tracking Poll for Sunday shows:

29% of the nation's voters now Strongly Approve of the way that Barack Obama is performing his role as President. Forty percent (40%) Strongly Disapprove giving Obama a Presidential Approval Index rating of -11. That’s the first time his ratings have reached double digits in negative territory (see trends).

Another interesting development is reflected in a Washington Post-ABC News poll. Republicans and GOP-leaning independents were asked: "If the 2012 Republican presidential primary or caucus in your state were being held today, and the candidates were (READ LIST) for whom would you vote?

                       7/18/09
Mike Huckabee         26   
Mitt Romney             21        
Sarah Palin               19     
Newt Gingrich            10     
Tim Pawlenty              4  
Jeb Bush                    3   
Haley Barbour             1
Bobby Jindal (vol.)       2       
Charlie Crist (vol.)        *      
Other (vol.)                  2          
None of these (vol.)      5         
Would not vote (vol.)    1        
No opinion                  6     

Given that many Americans are rejecting socialized medicine and the rationing of health care, we believe that Mitt Romney, who already implemented a disastrous forerunner of ObamaCare in Massachusetts, will only fade. Since America as we have known it hangs in the balance, it's not too soon to rally around a principled conservative like Mike Huckabee.

More Bad Polling News for the Dems and Obama

From American Thinker
By Gene Schwimmer

For the second time since Obama took office, Republicans have been leading Democrats on Rasmussen's Generic Congressional Ballot for three consecutive weeks.

The gap between the two parties matches the previous record of three points; however, it is the first time that the gap between the two parties has been that wide for two consecutive weeks. If the GOP holds its lead for a fourth week, it will be a record. Ditto if the amount of that lead exceeds three points.

Our Melting President

From American Thinker
By Bruce Walker

Slowly, methodically, consistently, the reliable Rasmussen Poll has been tracking the most vital numbers of the Obama Presidency. General, soft numbers like "Do you approve of the way the president is handlings his job?" really mean nothing. In times of crisis, most people will answer "yes." This is particularly true when a young articulate president who is splattered over every single magazine in every grocery checkout line with happy photos with his wife and kids, and when every tough question -- both of them -- in his press conferences is simply ignored.

It is not the soft, fluffy feelings about Obama that really matter. It is the intense feelings about him. Obama began his presidency with a lot of very enthusiastic support. About forty-five percent of Americans "strongly approved" of the job he was doing, while an anemic fifteen percent of Americans "strongly disapproved" of the job he was doing. In a couple of months, that gap between the "strongly approve" and "strongly disapprove" closed to a gap of between eight and ten points. The number who strongly approved glided down into the high thirties, while the number who strongly disapproved just about doubled, into the low thirties.

From April to mid-June, Obama seemed to have a fairly comfortable margin between his strong supporters and strong opponents, sometimes closing to a point or less and sometimes widening to about ten points. But the last couple of weeks have not been kind. Several days, the percentage of Americans who strongly disapproved of Obama was actually greater than the percentage of Americans who strongly approved of Obama. As of June 30, the number of strongly disapprove is actually two points greater than the number who strongly approve.

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