[Doug64]

Big surprise, Americans don't have much confidence in the economy :

Economic confidence was down, down, down this week, and therein, for now at least, lies the tale of the next presidential election.

For the third time this month, consumer confidence has fallen to the lowest level of the past two years. The Rasmussen Consumer Index, which measures the economic confidence of consumers on a daily basis, fell another point on Friday to 67.7. That’s the lowest level of confidence recorded since July 2009.

The Rasmussen Investor Index, which similarly measures daily investor confidence, fell on Saturday to the lowest level since December 2009.

News from the housing sector is equally grim. Belief among Americans that purchasing a home is a family’s best investment is weaker than ever. Only 43% believe buying a home is the best investment a family can make, down from 47% last month and the lowest level of confidence in home-buying ever recorded. As recently as last September, 60% felt that way.

Confidence that home values will improve over the next year also has fallen to the lowest level ever found. Just 11% now believe the value of their home will go up over the next 12 months. Prior to this survey, the number who expected their home values to rise during the next year ranged from 15% to 31%.

For the second month in a row, fewer than half of America’s homeowners believe the value of their home is worth more than the amount they still owe on their mortgage. That's just the third time this finding has fallen below 50% since late 2008.

After falling to a two-year low last month, the number of Americans who expect to pay higher interest rates next year has returned to levels found earlier in 2011. Fifty-seven percent (57%) believe they will be paying higher interest rates in a year’s time, up eight points from June. Prior to last month, this finding ranged from 50% to 59% since July 2009.

Only 21% of Likely U.S. Voters say the country is heading in the right direction. This matches the lowest level measured during Barack Obama’s presidency.

President Obama now earns his lowest level of support yet against a generic Republican candidate in a hypothetical 2012 election matchup. A generic Republican picks up 47% of the vote, while the president gets 41%.

The race is closer when the Republican nominee has a name. Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney runs essentially even with the president now. In April, Obama held a five-point edge over Romney.

The president enjoys a modest 44% to 39% lead in a matchup with Texas Governor Rick Perry. If Minnesota Congresswoman Michele Bachmann is the GOP nominee, Obama leads 46% to 39%. Congressman Ron Paul may be a long shot to win the Republican presidential nomination, but he runs competitively with the president for now. Paul picks up 37% of the vote, while the president earns 41%. Rudy Giuliani, the former mayor of New York City, trails Obama by five, 44% to 39%.

But the real story in the numbers is that the president continues to earn between 41% and 49% of the vote no matter which Republican is mentioned as a potential opponent. This suggests that the race remains a referendum on the incumbent more than anything else. If the economy substantially improves before November 2012, the president will be heavily favored to win reelection. If the opposite happens and the country endures a double-dip recession, just about any Republican challenger would be favored. If the economy stays as it is today, the race could be very competitive.

A good measure of the president’s reelection prospects is his Job Approval rating among likely voters. His final vote total is likely to be very close to his final Job Approval figures.

The crushing federal budget deficit and its impact on the economy are at center stage these days in Washington, D.C. where the president and Congress are wrangling over how to avoid defaulting on the nation’s debt. But most voters are worried that a deal to increase the government’s debt ceiling will raise taxes too much and won't cut spending enough.

Even if the president and Congress can agree on a plan to raise the debt ceiling that raises taxes on the wealthy and cuts spending, just 45% of voters think it’s even somewhat likely that the government will actually cut as much as it agrees to cut. Seventy-five percent (75%) also expect the deal to lead to a middle class tax hike.

Defense spending, one of the near untouchables in the federal budget in the past, is sure to be on the chopping block as Congress looks for ways to cut the deficit. Nearly one-half of Americans now think the United States can make major cuts in defense spending without putting the country in danger. They believe even more strongly that there’s no risk in cutting way back on what America spends to defend other countries.

Most voters don’t care much for the way either political party is performing in the debt ceiling debate. Fifty-eight percent (58%) disapprove of the way the president and congressional Democrats are acting, but 53% also disapprove of how congressional Republicans are handling the debate.

Voters now see congressional Republicans as slightly more partisan than their Democratic counterparts and are more pessimistic about the overall level of partisanship in Washington than they have been in nearly a year. Still, Republicans lead Democrats on the Generic Congressional Ballot as they have every week since June 2009.

The majority of voters continue to favor repeal of the national health care law and believe it will increase the federal deficit at the very time the president and Congress are trying to find ways to make significant cuts in government spending. Voters also expect the law to make health care costs go up.

After all, 69% of voters believe greater free market competition between insurance companies would do more to reduce health care costs than more government regulation. If the government’s got to be involved in health care decisions, most voters think it’ll be cheaper if it’s states rather than the feds.

In other surveys last week:

-- Two-out-of-three (66%) Likely U.S. Voters think gaining control of the border is more important than legalizing the status of illegal immigrants already living in America when it comes to immigration reform policy.

--More voters continue to favor tougher laws against employers who hire illegal immigrants than against landlords who rent to them. But support for strong sanctions against both employers and landlords is at record highs.

-- With summer vacation in full swing, 56% of Americans now believe children need to spend more time in school. But most oppose a 12-month school calendar.

-- The U.S. Department of Energy says new light bulbs will cost more up front but save money in the long run. That, plus expected energy savings, has led to government regulations that will effectively ban the sale of traditional light bulbs starting next year. If the new bulbs work as advertised, however, 67% of Americans believe it is at least somewhat likely that consumers will buy them, even if traditional bulbs are still available.

-- Fifty-nine percent (59%) of Americans are willing to help defend South Korea militarily if it is attacked. This makes South Korea one of the few treaty partners that most Americans are willing to assist militarily.

-- Florida and Missouri have already passed measures that require some form of drug testing during the welfare application process, with Florida now requiring all applicants to be tested. A majority of voters nationwide agree with automatically testing all welfare applicants for illegal drug use.

[Doug64]

Continued flash update! Americans think the economy sucks. OTOH, it is interesting that at least some Americans (homeowners whose mortgages are underwater) are willing to take a hit rather than be bailed out by the government.

Take this economy, puh-leez. And while you’re at it, take this Congress and this president with you, too. That’s the message from most Americans these days.

The federal government yesterday reported a stunningly low economic growth rate for the U.S. economy for the first six months of the year. But that was no surprise to regular followers of the Rasmussen Consumer Index, which measures the economic confidence of consumers on a daily basis. Consumer confidence remains near the lowest levels of the past two years. Just 13% of adult consumers say the U.S. economy is getting better these days, while 64% say it's getting worse. At the beginning of the year, 30% said economic conditions in the country were getting better, and only 45% said they were getting worse.

The similarly depressed Rasmussen Investor Index on Friday found that only 16% of investors think U.S. economic conditions are getting better, while 64% say they are getting worse. At the beginning of 2011, investors were evenly divided, with 36% saying economic conditions were improving and 39% saying they were getting worse.

These findings are echoed by record lows in our recent surveys of the housing market. While President Obama and some Democrats in Congress want to extend more government help to troubled homeowners, most Americans want the government to stay out of that market. Sixty-two percent (62%) of adults believe it's better for homeowners who can’t afford to make increased mortgage payments to sell their homes and find less expensive ones. Just 25% think it’s better for the government to assist those homeowners in making their payments.

Even among those who have missed a mortgage payment in the past six months, 54% say the better approach is for financially troubled homeowners to sell and buy something less expensive. Among those whose home is worth less than their mortgage, 70% say the better option is for struggling homeowners to sell their home and buy something less expensive. When it comes to those who expect the value of their home to go down over the coming year, the results are similar—70% say sell, while 21% think financial assistance from the government is a better solution.

With the debate over the nation’s debt ceiling dragging on and consumer confidence near two-year lows, voters are souring even more on the president's handling of economic issues. Thirty-six percent (36%) of voters give the president good or excellent marks when it comes to the economy. But 50% say the president is doing a poor job, up seven points from 43% two weeks ago. That ties the highest negative finding of Obama's presidency, last measured in October 2010.

Just 17% of voters now say the country is heading in the right direction, the lowest level of confidence measured since January 11, 2009, just before Obama took office.

But voters aren’t just blaming the president. Voter approval of the job Congress is doing also has fallen to a new low - for the second month in a row. Just six percent (6%) now rate Congress' performance as good or excellent.

Voters are also more convinced than ever that most congressmen are crooks. Forty-six percent (46%) now view most members of Congress as corrupt. That’s up seven points from June and the highest finding yet recorded.

Americans still look least favorably on members of Congress when asked to rate nine major professions. Just 19% view members of Congress even somewhat favorably.

House Speaker John Boehner is the only congressional leader whose favorables are up noticeably this month, but his negatives have risen even more as the debate over raising the federal debt ceiling continues. Voters remain most critical, however, of the Democratic congressional leadership, former Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.

All eyes are on Reid now that House Republicans have sent their debt ceiling deal over to the Senate for a vote. Despite the brinksmanship being displayed by both sides, voters expect the debt ceiling to be raised before the government defaults, although most don’t think the president and congressional Republicans will agree on significant long-term spending cuts before the 2012 elections. The majority of voters aren’t happy with the way either party is handling the debt ceiling debate.

Both major political parties are looking to next year’s elections to resolve the nation’s budget stalemate, and for now voters by a 56% to 34% margin would opt for a congressional candidate who balances spending cuts with tax hikes to cut the deficit over one who’s totally opposed to any tax increases.

Voters consistently have viewed themselves as more willing than their elected representatives to whack away at the federal budget. Forty percent (40%) of Americans, in fact, are now ready to sell the U.S. Postal Service to a private company like UPS or Federal Express to help reduce the deficit.

While voters express little confidence that the federal budget will be balanced any time soon, they believe overwhelmingly that if a surplus is ever generated again, the money should go toward paying down the federal debt rather than being returned to taxpayers in the form of a cut in taxes.

Most analysts including our very own Scott Rasmussen continue to see the troubled economy as the key factor in next year’s elections, and right now that appears to be playing to the Republicans’ advantage.

Voter confidence in Republicans to handle the economy is growing. Forty-five percent (45%) trust the GOP more when it comes to handling economic issues, while 35% put more trust in Democrats. Nineteen percent (19%) are undecided. Republicans had just a four-point lead in May. Voters have consistently placed the economy at the top of the list of 10 important issues regularly tracked by Rasmussen Reports. They now trust Republicans more than Democrats on nine of those 10 issues.

Republicans continue to lead Democrats on the Generic Congressional Ballot. The GOP’s been ahead on the ballot every week since June 2009, leading by as much as 12 points and as little as two.

A generic Republican candidate leads the president by six points again this week – 48% to 42% - in a hypothetical 2012 election match-up. The GOP candidate has now outpolled the president in nine of 12 surveys conducted weekly since early May. Of course, the race is tighter when the Republican candidate has a name.

In other surveys last week:

-- Most voters (57%) continue to favor repeal of the national health care law, and fewer voters than ever believe the law will be good for the country.

-- Positive ratings for the U.S. health care system peaked last year in the midst of the health care reform debate, but they have fallen since. Only 41% of voters now give the U.S. health care system good or excellent ratings, down from a high of 55% in April 2010. Twenty-eight percent (28%) rate the health care system as poor.

-- Sixty-one percent (61%) of voters like the fact that most working Americans have health insurance provided by their employer. Eighty-two percent (82%) believe that, if it didn’t cost the employer any extra money, a worker should be allowed to pick his or her own health insurance plan if they didn’t like the one provided by the employer.

-- Only 40% of voters believe that, when choosing between people of different races or genders, most employers pick the best person for the job. But just 22% now support government programs that give special treatment when hiring to women and minorities.

-- Sixty-three percent (63%) of Americans think a college degree is still a good financial investment in today’s economic environment. But adults under 29 aren’t quite as convinced as their elders.

-- Most Americans think there's not enough discipline in public schools today and feel it's tougher for teachers to maintain control than it was when they were kids. The majority also continue to believe that what you learn inside the classroom is more valuable than what’s learned on the outside.

-- Americans still prefer a home-cooked meal to one in a restaurant, and they’re eating out less than they were six months ago. Forty-seven percent (47%) say they are going out to eat less often than they were six months ago. That finding shows little change from January, but it’s down 10 points from November 2008.

-- As part of the new health care law, restaurant chains with 20 or more outlets will be required to disclose nutritional information on their menus. But most Americans would rather they not.

-- Sixty percent (60%) of American Adults say this summer in their area has been hotter than recent summers. Just 11% say it hasn't been as hot this summer as in recent years. Twenty-eight percent (28%) say the heat has been about the same.

[Doug64]

And the debt limit deal kerplunks into US public opinion without leaving a trace.

Americans don’t like the debt ceiling deal he agreed to, and confidence in the economy and the future in general are low and getting lower. But most voters think President Obama has a good chance of being reelected next year anyway.

Just 14% of Likely U.S. Voters now say the country is heading in the right direction . That’s down from 17% a week ago, 21% the week before, and 25% the week before that. It is the lowest measured since November 2, 2008, just before Obama was elected president.

Only 32% of voters think America’s best days are in the future while just over half (51%) say the nation’s best days are in the past.

The Rasmussen Consumer Index, which measures the economic confidence of consumers on a daily basis, fell to a two-year low on Thursday and was just eight points above the all-time low of the post-9/11 era. The Rasmussen Investor Index, which measures daily confidence among that group, fell to a new two-year low on Saturday. And those findings were based upon interviews conducted before the U.S. credit rating was downgraded.

Just eight percent (8%) of American adults rate the U.S. economy as good or excellent, while 64% say it’s in poor shape. At the beginning of this calendar year, 11% said the economy was in good or excellent shape, while 50% said poor.

The Rasmussen Employment Index, which measures workers’ perceptions of the labor market each month, fell nearly eight points in July to the lowest level since March. Only 18% of working Americans now report that their firms are hiring, while 24% say their firms are laying off workers. It has been nearly three years since the number reporting that their firms are hiring has topped the number reporting layoffs.

Thirty percent (30%) of voters describe the president’s leadership style as too confrontational, up nine points from 21% a month ago and the highest finding since March 2010 when the health care issue was front and center.

Obama’s full-month Job Approval Index rating for July as measured for the Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll was down two points from June to -17. That’s his lowest full-month approval rating this year and matches the lowest findings of his presidency, reached only twice before.

But ask voters if the president will be reelected next year, and 54% say it’s at least somewhat likely. Of course, that includes just 26% who say it is Very Likely. Forty percent (40%) say the president’s reelection is unlikely, with 18% who believe it’s Not At All Likely.

A generic Republican candidate leads Obama by five points – 47% to 42% - in our latest hypothetical 2012 election match-up. The GOP candidate has now outpolled the president in 10 of 13 surveys conducted weekly since early May.

The inclusion of likely candidate Rick Perry has tightened the race for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination dramatically, with Romney still ahead – but just barely. The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey of Likely Republican Primary Voters finds the former Massachusetts governor earning 22% support, closely followed by Perry, the Texas governor expected to enter the race soon, with 18% of the vote. Minnesota Congresswoman Michele Bachmann is in third place with 16%.

Candidates will fall by the wayside as the primary battle for the GOP presidential nomination gets under way. If the race were already down to just the three top candidates, Romney would still be just slightly ahead. In a three-way race between Romney, Bachmann and Perry, Romney earns 34% of the vote. Bachmann picks up 27% support, while Perry gets 26%.

The GOP candidates’ ranks may be thinned as early as this coming week when the Iowa State Fair straw poll begins the path to the Iowa Caucus.

One thing for sure: Just 37% of all GOP Primary Voters would vote for any candidate who supported the bailout of the financial industry. That’s potential bad news for Congressman Ron Paul who supported that bailout and good news for Bachmann and Michigan Congressman Thaddeus McCotter who voted against it.

Another vote that’s likely to come back and haunt some presidential hopefuls is the decision earlier this week to raise the federal debt ceiling. Just 22% of voters approve of the deal reached by the president and Congress, and most doubt it will actually reduce government spending.

To be more precise, the president and Congress agreed to cut a trillion dollars in federal spending over the next decade as part of the deal, but most voters doubt that will actually happen. The two sides also agreed to form a special congressional committee to recommend $1.5 trillion in additional cuts by the end of the year, and if the committee fails to do that, automatic across-the-board spending cuts are supposed to go into effect, including cuts in Medicare and defense spending. But a plurality (47%) doesn't think Congress is likely to let these across-the-board cuts take place.

Despite their skepticism about the deal, 52% oppose those automatic spending cuts if Congress doesn’t reach its reduction goals.

The debt ceiling debate has highlighted the political difficulty of coming to grips with the federal government’s massive debt. Voters now are almost evenly divided over whether they prefer a congressman who would reduce that debt with spending cuts only or opt for a mix of spending cuts and tax increases.

No matter how bad things are, 63% of voters believe Congress can always find a way to make them worse. If they could vote to keep or replace the entire Congress, 62% would vote to dump all the current legislators and start over again.

Eighty-two percent (82%) believe members of Congress should take a 25% pay cut until the federal budget is balanced. A plurality (48%) thinks the president should take a 50% pay cut until the budget is balanced. That’s not particularly reassuring since an earlier survey found that only nine percent (9%) think it’s Very Likely the federal budget will be balanced at least one year in their lifetimes.

Most voters also think members of Congress should be banned from lobbying for five years after they leave office .

Republicans remain ahead on the Generic Congressional Ballot as they have every week since June 2009. But the number of Americans who consider themselves Republicans fell for the second straight month in July. For the first time since last fall, the number of Democrats in the country has topped the number of Republicans in two consecutive months.

In other surveys last week:

-- Most voters nationwide continue to favor repeal of the national health care law, but those who already have health insurance are less convinced the new law will force them to change their coverage.

-- The Obama administration on Monday announced a new set of standards that require health insurance companies to cover the cost of all government-approved contraceptives for women . Thirty-nine percent (39%) of Americans agree with this decision, but 46% oppose it. Fifty-four percent (54%) predict health insurance costs for all will rise if the companies have to meet the full cost of women’s contraceptives.

-- While concerned about their own health insurance costs, Americans believe overwhelmingly that someone without insurance should be treated in an emergency room if they are seriously injured, even if they are in this country illegally.

-- San Francisco is considering a new law that would prohibit employers from inquiring about an individual’s criminal history before hiring them. Hawaii, New York, Massachusetts and Philadelphia already have similar laws. But just 18% of American Adults favor a law that would prohibit employers from considering an applicant’s criminal record when making a hiring decision.

-- The debate over global warming has intensified in recent weeks after a new NASA study further undercuts the argument that global warming is largely man-made. While a majority of Americans nationwide continue to acknowledge significant disagreement about global warming in the scientific community, 69% go even further to say some scientists falsify data to support their own beliefs.

-- Americans think the U.S. Constitution calls for a separation of church and state, but they overwhelmingly believe that separation is not violated by plans to include the so-called 9/11 cross in a memorial on the site of the World Trade Center.

-- Voters continue to believe U.S. society is fair and decent, while the number who believes immigrants should adopt American culture hovers around the all-time low.

-- Alice Cooper said it best: “No more Mr. nice guy.” Seventy-six percent (76%) of Adults say Americans are becoming ruder and less civilized . Just 12% say they’re becoming kinder and gentler.

[Doug64]

Americans are a gloomy bunch, though perhaps not as gloomy as Europeans these days:

Most Americans these days would agree with Thomas Paine’s famous declaration in 1776: “These are the times that try men’s souls.” We lack confidence in the economy, government, elections, the president, Congress, both political parties, even our military missions abroad, with little hope in sight.

As a volatile week on Wall Street came to a close, investor confidence as measured by the Rasmussen Investor Index fell to a two-year low. Its companion, the Rasmussen Consumer Index, finds consumer confidence just above the lowest levels of the past two years.

Rasmussen Reports measures consumer confidence on a daily basis, and one of our standard questions is whether or not the United States is currently in a recession. According to the economists, the last recession lasted from December 2007 to June 2009, but most Americans believe that recession has never ended.

Confidence among Americans in the stability of the nation’s banking industry has hit rock bottom. Just 37% are at least somewhat confident in the banking system, including six percent (6%) who are Very Confident. Prior to the latest survey, overall confidence in U.S. banks ranged from a low of 39% in February 2009 to a high of 68% in July 2008 just before the Wall Street meltdown.

When it comes to finding work, just 13% of American Adults believe the U.S. jobs market is better than it was a year ago. Half (50%) believe it is worse. That latter figure is up 11 points from June and the highest negative finding since August 2009.

Faced with continuing high unemployment, voters feel strongly that the government needs to launch a job-creating program, but they have far more faith in business leaders to create new jobs. They give mixed reviews to President Obama’s new plan to create jobs for military veterans.

The number of Americans who believe the federal government should assume financial responsibility for the long-term unemployed has increased throughout 2011. Most, however, still continue to reject that approach.

When it comes to job creation and improving the overall economy, voters continue to think tax cuts will work better than government solutions.

Not surprisingly, 67% of Americans say the state of the economy is causing more stress on their family. That finding is up 10 points from this time last year.

Meanwhile, fewer voters than ever – 17% - feel the federal government has the consent of the governed. Not that there’s much hope that the ballot box can change anything because fewer voters than ever have confidence in the fairness of elections. Forty-two percent (42%) now say elections are not fair to voters, the highest finding since surveying on this question began in 2004.

Speaking of the ballot box, the Ames Straw Poll in Iowa tonight will begin weeding out some of the hopefuls in the race for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination. The straw poll is an early step toward next year’s Iowa Caucus. In a survey taken prior to Thursday night’s debate in Iowa, five candidates are in double digits among likely Republican caucus participants. Minnesota Congresswoman Michele Bachmann attracts 22% support, while former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney earn 21%. Just slightly behind is Texas Congressman Ron Paul at 16%, followed by Texas Governor Rick Perry at 12% and former Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty at 11%. But many voters are open to changing their mind before caucus day arrives.

For the fifth week in a row, a generic Republican candidate edges the president in a hypothetical 2012 election match-up.

On Friday, the Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll found that just 43% of voters at least somewhat approve of Obama’s job performance. That’s the lowest total approval for the president in five months. Fifty-five percent (55%) at least somewhat disapprove.

Still, while there has been much talk lately about declining enthusiasm for the president on the political left, a review of Rasmussen Reports tracking data for the week ending August 7, 2011 shows that the president still earns an 85% Job Approval rating from liberal Democrats. At the same time, only 67% of conservative Democrats offer their approval.

Among all voters, the number who consider the Republican agenda in Congress as extreme has risen to its highest level yet, while a plurality continues to view the Democrats' agenda that way. Forty-nine percent (49%) now describe the agenda of Republicans in Congress as extreme, up six points from a month ago. Forty-five percent (45%) think the Democratic agenda is extreme, down from a high of 57% last year when Nancy Pelosi was House speaker.

In the first full-week survey since the president and Congress closed a hard-fought deal to raise the federal debt ceiling, Republicans hold just a two-point lead on the Generic Congressional Ballot. The GOP has had leads on the ballot ranging from two to 12 points every week since June 2009.

At the urging of their Tea Party supporters, congressional Republicans demanded more spending cuts and refused to consider any tax increases in the debt ceiling deal. Several prominent Democrats and their media friends have charged the Tea Party with being economic terrorists during the congressional budget debates, but just 29% of voters agree with that assessment.

More voters, in fact, still think the average Tea Party member has a better handle on America’s problems than the average member of Congress does, but there’s a sharp difference of opinion between Democrats and Republicans.

Congress and presidents have been playing the “spending cuts” game for years, but most voters know what they’re really talking about. Sixty-two percent (62%) of voters understand that when Congress mentions future spending cuts, they’re really saying the growth in government spending will be less than planned. Just 19% think it means spending next year will be lower than this year’s. Interestingly, those who are pushing hardest for government spending cuts are the ones who are most aware of what those cuts really mean.

Two-out-of-three voters (67%) now feel that every federal government program including defense should be looked at for spending cuts. While voters aren’t convinced government spending will actually be cut, the number that thinks spending will increase under Obama is at the lowest level since he took office.

Perhaps ominously, however, 48% of Americans think that cuts in government spending are at least somewhat likely to lead to violence in the United States. Tax hikes and a crashing stock market are seen as less incendiary in the minds of most Americans.

The news isn’t much better when Americans turn their attention overseas. Following the deaths of 30 Americans in Afghanistan last weekend, support for bringing home all U.S. troops from Afghanistan has hit its highest level yet. Fifty-nine percent (59%) of voters want the troops to come home either immediately or within a year.

Confidence in the course of the War on Terror which surged following the killing of Osama bin Laden continues to fall. Forty-four percent (44%) of voters now say the United States and its allies are winning the War on Terror, but that’s down eight points from last month and down 11 points from early May, just after the death of bin Laden.

In other surveys last week:

-- Just 16% of voters now say the country is heading in the right direction. That’s up two points from last week which marked the lowest level measured since November 2, 2008, just before Obama was elected president. Over the past three weeks, the number of voters who are confident in the nation’s current course has resembled levels measured in the final months of the Bush administration.

-- Even as the nation's overall credit rating is at risk due in large part to the staggering size of the federal budget deficit, most voters continue to believe the new national health care law will increase the deficit. Over half of U.S. voters still want the law repealed.

-- There are currently 17 states that offer a sales tax holiday – a brief suspension of sales taxes – to encourage back-to-school shopping, and 58% of Americans like the idea.

[Social_Critic]

I wonder if these polls would work better if people were given a bit more context, ie a more structured question. For example, when people are asked if they want tax cuts, they tend to say yes. But if they are asked if they would like to see the US Defense budget cut, they tend to say no (am I right?). But the "defense" budget takes up a huge portion of the budget, and it's very hard to cut it unless "defense" is cut.

I'm for tax cuts, but I would like to see them tied to specific cuts in areas I think are wasteful. And I don't think the US armed forces are doing much to earn their keep defending the nation. Because I know most Americans love their wars, think the Armed Forces do defend the nation but don't have much of an idea of what really goes on (I'd like to see somebody write a coherent argument defending the crap we did and continue to do in Iraq and Afghanistan) ...then I'm for raising the damn taxes until they come to their senses. But I really hate is to see us borrow money like this to pay for crap we can't afford.

[Doug64]

I can certainly agree with your last statement.

But for the polling, I'm afraid it doesn't work that way. It seems to me that the longer the question (which it would have to be for the extra detail), the more confusing and less evenhanded it is going to be. And something I can attest to (having worked as both a telephone pollster and a telemarketer): the longer the poll the harder it is to get people to finish it, which means the harder it is to get answers from people that aren't hardcore on the subject but still vote and so the less accurate the poll results.

BTW, here's the questions that were asked on the tax cut/government vs. business issues:

1* How important is it for the government to launch a new program designed to create jobs?

2* Which will do more to create new jobs - decisions made by government officials to create jobs or decisions made by U.S. business leaders to help their own businesses grow?

3* Which is a better way to create new jobs – cutting taxes or increasing government spending?

4* A proposal has been made to give companies tax credits up to $9,600 for each young military veteran they hire. Supporters estimate the program will cost $120 million and create 25,000 new jobs. Do you favor or oppose having the federal government give companies tax credits for each new job created for young veterans?

5* What will be better for the economy in the long-term - government job creation programs or tax cuts?

[Doug64]

Perry's off with a bang! Now, let's see if he can keep it up....

Rick Perry vs. Barack Obama? We’ll see, but that’s what voters were telling us this past week. They also have some good advice on where Congress can look to cut the bloated federal budget.

The Texas governor is the new face in the race for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination, and the latest Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of Likely GOP Primary Voters finds Perry jumping to a double-digit lead over previous frontrunners Mitt Romney and Michele Bachmann.

“Governor Perry is enjoying a bounce from entering the race at precisely the right time,” Scott Rasmussen explains. “Now the difficult part begins for the new frontrunner. It’s much easier winning support when people are hoping you will get in the race, than retaining support when you are the frontrunner.”

A generic Republican candidate holds a six-point advantage over President Obama – 48% to 42% - in our latest hypothetical 2012 election match-up. This is the sixth week in a row and the 12th week out of 15 since the beginning of May in which the generic Republican has led Obama.

At week’s end, 45% of voters at least somewhat approved of Obama's performance as measured in the Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll. Fifty-three percent (53%) at least somewhat disapproved.

Most voters (54%) continue to believe the president is more liberal than they are. Just 12% say the president is more politically conservative than they are, while 26% say his political ideology is about the same as their own.

Vice President Joe Biden, many other Democrats and establishment Republicans have been critical of the Tea Party, but most GOP primary voters think the grass roots smaller government movement will be a plus for their party in next year’s presidential race. Interestingly, those outside the Tea Party are more committed to finding a candidate who shares their views. That contradicts a common story line that Tea Party members are interested in ideological purity while others are more practical in their considerations.

Republicans have bounced back to a seven-point lead – 44% to 37% - on the Generic Congressional Ballot for the week ending Sunday, August 14. The GOP has led on the ballot every week since June 2009.

Congress will be looking for sizable spending cuts in the months ahead, and voters see three so-called “corporate welfare” programs as potential candidates for the chopping block - farm subsidies, aid to large corporations to promote export sales and funding to help other countries buy U.S.-made weapons.

While small businesses are seen by many as the heart of the U.S. economy, 59% percent of voters believe reducing government regulations and taxes will do more to help small business than for the government to provide loans to small businessmen who cannot get financing on their own.

Similarly, voters show very little confidence in the federal government when it comes to picking winners in the technology industry. Sixty-four percent (64%) think it is at least somewhat likely that if a private company which cannot find investors gets funding from the government, that money will be wasted. That includes 30% who say it is Very Likely to be wasted

Government student loans are another area under the congressional budget-cutting microscope. Most voters favor their continuation for poor and middle-income students but are decidedly less enthusiastic about outright government grants for schooling such as Pell Grants that don’t need to be repaid.

Americans also would rather see the U.S. Postal Service dramatically cut its workforce and reduce mail delivery to three or four days a week than have the government pour more money into the financially struggling agency.

After all, Americans still overwhelmingly believe that those employed in the private sector work harder than government workers but receive less compensation and have less job security.

Voters have said in past surveys that government anti-poverty programs actually make things worse for America’s poor. As Congress looks for ways to cut spending, these programs, too, are likely to get close scrutiny, especially following the release of a recent Heritage Foundation study that suggests many of those the government considers living in poverty have a decent place to live, adequate food on the table and two color TVs, among other amenities.

Sixty-three percent (63%) of Americans think a family that is adequately fed and living in a house or apartment that is in good repair is not in poverty. Fifty-one percent (51%) believe a family that has two color TVs, a VCR and a DVD player is not living in poverty. Still, 73% of Americans believe poverty in the United States today is at least somewhat severe, a finding that has changed little in over four years of surveys.

At the same time, more voters than ever worry that the federal government will not do enough to help the economy. Forty-nine percent (49%) now are more worried that the federal government will not do enough in reacting to the nation’s economic problems versus 36% who are more worried that government will do too much. In September 2008, just after the collapse of Lehman Brothers, 63% feared the government would try to do too much. Generally since then, however, those worried that the government will do too much has run in the high 40s and low 50s, while those who fear the government won't do enough have been in the high 30s and low 40s.

Voters are increasingly unhappy with the nation’s foreign policy, and most are willing to consider cuts to defense spending, too. Voter confidence about the short-term course of the war in Afghanistan has fallen to its lowest level in nearly two years, while confidence about the direction in Iraq over the next six months has dropped to the lowest point in almost five years of surveying.

Support for continuing U.S. military action in Libya has fallen to its lowest level yet. Just 20% now believe the United States should continue its military action there.

On the revenue side, changes in the tax code are likely as Congress debates ways to cut the federal deficit, and 64% of Americans think it’s better to have lower tax rates and very few deductions than to have higher rates and lots of deductions.

Americans will be watching Congress’ moves closely as the economy continues to spin off more bad news. The uncertainty surrounding the debt ceiling debate, Standard and Poor's U.S. credit rating downgrade, big stock market declines and the stubbornly-high unemployment rate have created a "perfect storm" of economic anxiety this summer. The COUNTRY Financial Security Index® dropped to 62.4 in August, the lowest reading in the survey's history. This decrease reflects record-setting lows in multiple categories, including retirement security, overall financial security and confidence in ability to pay debts.

The Rasmussen Consumer and Investor Indexes inched up slightly this past week after hitting two-year lows a week earlier but still remain well below where they were just three months ago.

Perceptions of home values among homeowners have improved little over the past month. Just 13% expect their home’s value to go up over the next year. That’s up just slightly from last month’s all-time low of 11%.

The number of homeowners who report their home is currently worth more than the amount they still owe on their mortgage is at its highest level – 55% - since January. This finding slipped below 50% for the first time in June and July.

More Americans than ever (62%) predict they will be paying higher interest rates a year from now. That’s up five points from July and up 28 points from April 2009.

Americans nationwide continue to lose faith in the Federal Reserve Board to keep interest rates down and inflation under control, with the number who say they are paying more for groceries now (93%) at an all-time high.

In other surveys last week:

-- Just 15% of Likely U.S. Voters now say the country is heading in the right direction. That’s down 20 points from a year ago. Since the third week in July, the number of voters who are confident in the nation’s current course has resembled levels measured in the final months of the Bush administration.

-- While a majority of voters continue to favor repeal of the national health care law, there's slightly less confidence this month that it actually will happen.

-- The Obama administration late in the week announced new guidelines that will slow the rate of deportation of illegal immigrants. Just 49% of voters, however, are even somewhat concerned that efforts to identify and deport illegal immigrants will also end up violating the civil rights of some U.S. citizens. That’s down from 57% in May of last year.

-- A plurality of voters continues to say they’re politically conservative when it comes to fiscal issues, but voters are more evenly divided on their social views. Twenty-eight percent (28%) say they are both fiscal and social conservatives.

-- Voters feel stronger than they have in a year that politics in Washington, D.C. will grow more partisan in the near future. They think Republicans in Congress are being more partisan these days that their Democratic counterparts.

-- Americans aren’t impressed with the way the British government has responded to the recent riots in London, but most don’t think the violent incidents put the city’s hosting of next year’s Summer Olympics at risk.

[Doug64]

No surprise, the economy is still the primary focus of Americans, and they don't think much of its current state:

Even as a hurricane of perhaps historic dimensions closes in on the East Coast, the real storm in the country remains the beat-up and begging economy. Americans also continue to show little confidence in the president and the federal government to make a difference.

The economy is naturally the number one issue on voters’ minds, with 84% rating it Very Important in terms of how they will vote in the next congressional election. No wonder many congressmen home on their August recess are avoiding holding town hall meetings right now.

At the same time, voter perceptions of President Obama’s handling of the economy has fallen to a new low. Just 29% of Likely U.S. Voters believe the president is doing a good or an excellent job on the economy. While most voters continue to blame the struggling economy on the recession that began during the Bush administration, the number that trusts their own economic judgment more than the president’s (65%) is at a new high.

The Rasmussen Consumer and Investor Indexes, which measure the daily confidence of both groups, show little change from the week before and still remain well below where they were three months ago. Only 18% of consumers say U.S. economic conditions are getting better, while most (64%) think they are getting worse. Investors are only slightly less pessimistic.

Just 14% of voters now say the country is heading in the right direction. Since the third week in July, the number who are confident in the nation’s current course has resembled levels measured in the final months of the Bush administration.

Meanwhile, Obama is earning some of the lowest job approval ratings of his entire presidency in the Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll.

A generic Republican candidate continues to lead the president in a hypothetical 2012 election match-up. But Obama remains ahead of all named Republicans in early polling on the race for the White House.

The president earns 43% of the vote if Texas Governor Rick Perry, the new frontrunner in the Republican contest, is the opposing party’s nominee. Perry attracts support from 40%. If Minnesota Congresswoman Michele Bachmann is the GOP candidate, the president leads 43% to 39%. With former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney as his opponent, the president leads 46% to 38%.

The president and Texas Republican Congressman Ron Paul are running almost dead even, but given that matchup, 22% either prefer another candidate or remain undecided.

The only time Obama hits the magical 50% mark is when he’s matched up against former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin who picks up just 33% voter support. Palin has a busy schedule leading up to a major public event in Iowa on September 3, and Republican insider Karl Rove predicts she’s about to enter the race for the GOP presidential nomination.

Who are Republican voters going to choose to be their standard-bearer? Right now, GOP voters want to have it both ways: They like a presidential candidate with business and government experience but rate life in the private sector as slightly more important.

There’s a higher degree of confidence in the business community among all Americans. The Obama administration is expected to announce more infrastructure spending as part of a new jobs plan next month, but Americans still think private companies will do more to create jobs than the government can. In fact, only 18% believe a billion dollars spent by the government on new highways would do more to create jobs than a billion dollars spent by private companies to expand business.

Yet most Americans think businesses should focus more on the greater good of their fellow citizens. Twenty-six percent (26%) of Adults say the primary objective of a business should be to create value for the shareholders, but 64% believe its primary purpose should be to create jobs for the overall economy.

Speaking of jobs, voters have consistently supported tough penalties on employers who hire illegal immigrants, and 40% believe those illegals take jobs away from U.S. citizens. But, even in this tough economy, 49% say illegal immigrants perform jobs that U.S. citizens won’t do. Most Republicans think illegal immigrants take jobs away from U.S. citizens, while a majority of Democrats and voters not affiliated with either party disagree.

Perhaps that helps explain why the Obama administration is slowing the pace of deportations to focus on illegal immigrants with criminal records. Critics complain the move is intended to get around Congress' refusal to pass the so-called Dream Act aimed at providing a path to citizenship for those who came to the country illegally before age 16. But only 32% of voters believe children of parents in this country illegally should be allowed to attend public school here. Several states have made illegal immigrants eligible for lower in-state tuition at colleges and universities, but 81% oppose such a move in their state. Just 18% of voters believe illegal immigrants should be allowed to obtain U.S. driver’s licenses.

Voters continue to strongly believe – now by a two-to-one margin - that gaining control of the border is more important than legalizing the status of undocumented workers already living in the United States.

Several states including Arizona and Alabama have passed laws cracking down on illegal immigration because of their unhappiness with federal immigration policies. Americans overall tend to trust governments closer to home rather than the federal government and worry that the team in DC has too much influence over state governments. Most voters still believe states should be able to ignore federal programs they don’t like, especially if the federal government doesn’t help pay for them.

Americans increasingly think government anti-poverty programs cause more poverty in this country. They overwhelmingly believe the bigger problem with the welfare system in the United States is that there are too many overqualified recipients rather than not enough. Most also think legal immigrants should have to wait at least three years before being eligible for welfare benefits.

In other surveys last week:

-- Most voters nationwide continue to favor repeal of the national health care law, but those who already have health insurance are less convinced the new law will force them to change their coverage.

-- Republicans lead by six points on the latest Generic Congressional Ballot – 44% to 38%.

-- Americans tend to think U.S. corporations aren't taxed enough, but most favor lowering the tax rates on corporations in exchange for limiting their deductions.

-- The Obama administration has increased its criticism of Syria’s violent response to anti-government protests, and both the president and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton are now calling for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to step down. But just 12% of Likely U.S. Voters believe the United States should get more directly involved in the Syrian crisis.

-- Slightly more voters continue to classify themselves as pro-choice rather than pro-life, but a majority of all voters still believes abortion is morally wrong most of the time.

-- While most adults agree with the president that a world-class education is the most important factor in the success of America’s children and status in the world, 62% don’t think U.S. public schools provide that level of education.

-- After a contentious labor dispute between team owners and players that lasted more than 18 weeks, NFL football is back. While the regular season doesn’t begin until September, the New England Patriots are the Super Bowl favorites heading into the 2011 season.

[Doug64]

Obama's certainly lucky the election is still over a year away, maybe he'll be able to teach the horse to sing:

Lucky for President Obama the election is still 14 months away because the economic news couldn’t get much worse, capped with Friday’s report of zero job growth in August. That forced the president to kill plans for tougher clean air rules that critics said were a job killer, but the decision is sure to infuriate voters on his side of the aisle.

In August, the president’s full-month Job Approval Index rating fell four points to –21, by far the lowest finding since he took office in January 2009. Prior to last month, Obama’s lowest level of approval was -17, reached three times since January 2009. With a few exceptions, the president’s Approval Index rating has stayed between -14 and -17 since the beginning of 2010.

The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll results for the first days of September don’t suggest that Obama’s job approval ratings are moving up anytime soon.

Voters continue to have mixed views of the president’s leadership. Forty-two percent (42%) see the president as a good or excellent leader, but 40% rate his leadership as poor. When Obama first took office, 64% gave him good or excellent marks for leadership. Those positives fell into the 40s by July 2009 and have generally remained in that range ever since.

The president now earns his lowest level of support yet against a generic Republican in a hypothetical 2012 election matchup. The generic Republican earns 48% of the vote, while the president picks up support from 40%.

For the first time this year, Texas Governor Rick Perry, the current frontrunner for the GOP presidential nomination in 2012, leads the president in a national Election 2012 survey - by a 44% to 41% margin. Other Republican candidates trail the president by single digits.

Perry recently caused a stir when he told voters it was his goal to make Washington, D.C. as inconsequential as possible in their lives. But voters are closely divided over whether that’s such a good idea. Thirty-eight percent (38%) agree with the goal of making Washington as inconsequential as possible in the lives of Americans. But 34% disagree with that goal, and nearly as many (28%) are undecided about it. Seventy-three percent (73%) of Tea Party members share Perry’s enthusiasm for lessening the importance of Washington and the federal government, compared to just 28% of those who are not part of the grassroots movement.

Former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin is scheduled to make a major appearance at a Tea Party gathering in Iowa today with many speculating about what she might announce. Voters aren’t really sure if she’ll run for president, but 60% think it would be bad for the GOP if Palin enters the race. Even most Republicans (52%) feel that way.

The Rasmussen Employment Index, which measures workers’ perceptions of the labor market each month, slipped a point in August to the lowest level measured in one year. Just 17% of working Americans now report that their firms are hiring, while 24% say their firms are laying workers off. With the exception of March, the latest results are the worst since November. It has been nearly three years since the number reporting that their firms are hiring has topped the number reporting layoffs.

The Rasmussen Consumer and Investor Indexes, which measure daily confidence, remain little changed this week. Sixty-six percent (66%) of both investors and consumers believe the economy is in recession.

The president is expected to lay out a detailed plan to encourage job growth this coming week, but early reports suggest that his proposals include a call for increased government spending which Republicans are unlikely to agree to. The president is sure to propose increased spending for transportation infrastructure in the country as a job creator. But Americans send fairly positive signals about the roads they drive and the bridges they cross, and most aren’t confident that the new infrastructure money will make things any better.

One proposal in Congress that the president hasn’t embraced calls for the federal government to spend $46 billion to hire a million people on a temporary basis in areas including child care, eldercare, education, public health and housing, construction and maintenance, recreation and the arts. Just 30% favor the federal government hiring one million people on a temporary basis, perhaps in part because 56% think it’s likely most of these temporary jobs would be wasteful “make-work” projects.

Voters are even less excited about the idea of the federal government providing a basic living for all Americans. Only 11% support a proposal for the federal government to provide every single American with a basic income grant, or enough money to enjoy a modest living regardless of whether they choose to work or not.

While voters are unhappy with the president’s performance, they’re even unhappier with the job Congress is doing. Just six percent (6%) now rate Congress' performance as good or excellent - for the second straight month. Sixty-six percent (66%) say Congress is doing a poor job, up five points from July and the highest negative finding since March 2010.

Congress will return from its August recess next Tuesday, and its top leaders will come back just as disliked as when they left. Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi remains the least popular congressional leader, with 59% who view her unfavorably and 31% who share a favorable opinion of her. Voters are more closely divided in their views of current House Speaker John Boehner. He draws favorable reviews from 36% of voters, while 41% view him unfavorably.

Republicans now lead by nine points – 45% to 36% - on the Generic Congressional Ballot for the week ending Sunday, August 28. The GOP has led on the ballot every week since June 2009.

The number of Americans not affiliated with either major political party has reached its highest level ever, while the number of Democrats has reached an all-time low. During the month of August, voters not affiliated with either party grew to 33.5%. The number of Republicans inched up to 33.5%, while those calling themselves Democrats fell to 33.0%, the lowest level measured in seven years.

Only 16% of all voters now say the country is heading in the right direction. That’s down 13 points from a year ago. Since the third week in July, the number of voters who are confident in the nation’s current course has resembled levels measured in the final months of the Bush administration.

Just 34% think America’s best days are in the future. A plurality (46%) believes the nation’s best days are in the past, while 19% more are not sure.

In other surveys last week:

-- The number of voters who Strongly Favor repeal of the national health care law (57%) this week ties the highest level reached in several months, as most continue to believe the law will push up health care costs and the federal deficit.

-- Looks like it’s a little more popular to be a liberal or a progressive these days, although conservative remains the best political label you can put on a candidate for public office. Being linked to the Tea Party is the biggest negative.

-- Describing a political candidate as being “like Ronald Reagan” is a winner as far as most voters are concerned. Being called “a socialist” or “a career politician,” on the other hand, is a sure loser.

-- While Hurricane Irene did less damage than originally predicted, 69% of Americans are at least somewhat concerned about its potential impact on the economy, including 32% who are Very Concerned.

-- Most Americans closely followed news about Hurricane Irene as it neared our shores and give good marks to the media coverage of threatening bad weather.

-- With hurricane season in full swing, 41% of Americans believe global warming is creating climate changes that lead to more extreme weather events, but that’s down 14 points from early June 2008. Forty-three percent (43%) disagree.

-- Fifty-seven percent (57%) of Adults say they are paying more money for a gallon of gas than they were six months ago, but that’s down considerably from 93% in May. But 78% think it’s likely they’ll be paying more for a gallon of gas six months from now.

-- While most Americans say they are not overweight now, over half admit to dieting at one point in their life.

-- Earlier this month, a new study made headlines by suggesting that every hour spent watching television after age 25 will shorten a person’s lifespan by 22 minutes. While just over half of adults admit to watching TV every day or nearly every day, they overwhelmingly believe that their fellow Americans watch the tube too much.

[Doug64]

Mostly a grab bag this week, and even a little good news :

This past week may well have been a preview of the headlines for months to come, with Texas Governor Rick Perry coming out swinging on the national stage and President Obama trying once more to give the struggling economy a shot in the arm. Whether Obama can get his new jobs plan to work may go a long way toward determining whether he keeps his job for another four years.

Making a better life for the next generation has long been the goal of American parents, but just 18% of American Adults believe today’s children will be better off than their parents. That’s down six points since June. Sixty-seven percent (67%) say they won’t be better off.

Eighteen percent (18%) of Likely U.S. Voters now say the country is heading in the right direction, down 11 points from a year ago. Since the third week in July, the number of voters who are confident in the nation’s current course has resembled levels measured in the final months of the Bush administration.

Consumer confidence fell in August for the third straight month, as the Discover U.S. Spending Monitor(SM) dropped to its lowest level since March 2009. Since January, the Monitor which tracks economic confidence and spending intentions of around 8,200 consumers a month has been in a freefall.

The Rasmussen Consumer and Investor Indexes which measure the economic confidence of both groups on a daily basis rebounded slightly over the past week but confidence is still down from three months ago.

As for jobs, Americans who have them are staying put and aren’t overly optimistic that the next one would be better anyway. Thirty-eight percent (38%) of American workers are confident their next job will be better than their current one, but 71% aren’t searching for other work. This is consistent with findings for the last two-and-a-half years.

Still, the number of working Americans who classify themselves as poor has fallen to its lowest level (10%) in more than two years, while the number of middle class workers (68%) ties the all-time high. A rare bit of economic good news? We’ll see. It’s unclear if these latest findings represent a significant turnaround in perceptions of personal wealth or are just statistical noise.

After all, just 27% of Americans now believe the U.S. economy will be stronger in one year, the lowest finding in regular tracking since January 2009. Fifty-two percent (52%) believe the economy will be weaker a year from now. That’s up nine points from 43% in June and represents the first time a majority of adults are predicting a weaker economy in a year.

But like most everything these days, political persuasions color perceptions of the economy. Seventy-five percent (75%) of Republicans nationwide say the U.S. economy is in poor shape, and 68% of those not affiliated with either major party agree. However, data from the Rasmussen Consumer Index shows that just 49% of Democrats think the economy is in poor shape. The same perception gap can be found throughout the data.

When it comes to key national issues, however, 73% of all Likely Voters nationwide trust the American people more than their political leaders. Only 10% trust the judgment of their political leaders more. Seventy-three percent (73%) believe that government and big business work together against the rest of us, a point former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin hammered in a speech in Iowa last weekend.

Palin, it appears, is the only one who know for sure whether she’ll run for president, but she continues to run worse against Obama than the four top Republican hopefuls already in the race. In their latest hypothetical matchup, the president earns 47% of the vote to Palin’s 35%.

Confirming a surge seen in polling across the nation, Perry has moved into first place among Republican voters in Iowa, host state to the first-in-the-nation caucus early next year. The Texas governor is the first choice for 29% of those likely to participate in the Iowa GOP Caucus. Essentially tied for second are Minnesota Congresswoman Michele Bachmann at 18% and former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney at 17%. Texas Congressman Ron Paul picks up 14% of the vote.

Most voters are paying at least some attention to the race for the Republican presidential nomination, but just a plurality (41%) thinks the existing primary process is a good way to select a party’s candidate. Twenty-nine percent (29%) believe the primary process is a bad way to select a presidential nominee, but just as many (30%) are undecided.

As the GOP race gathers momentum, voters overwhelmingly believe the media’s more interested in playing “gotcha” with those running for president than with airing out where they stand on the important issues of the day. Only 16% think the media is more interested in where prospective presidential candidates stand on the issues. Republican presidential hopeful Newt Gingrich charged in a debate this past week that the media is trying to stir up controversy to protect the incumbent.

The president, meanwhile, continues to earn some of the lowest job approval ratings of his time in office in the Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll. A generic Republican candidate hits the highest level of support to date against Obama in a hypothetical 2012 election matchup for the week ending Sunday, September 4. The generic Republican picks up 49% of the vote, while the president gets 41%.

Voters are evenly divided over whether the president’s political views are best described as mainstream or extreme. Voters also give mixed opinions about the Republicans vying for his job. But former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney is seen as closer to the mainstream than either the president or Perry, the current GOP frontrunner.

Although Obama on Thursday evening outlined a jobs plan that couples tax breaks with spending cuts, most voters continue to believe government spending will go up under his administration. They also don’t believe taxes will go down on his watch.

But a sizable majority of voters favor across-the-board spending cuts in the federal budget, although they remain slightly less enthusiastic about including the military in those cuts.

Even recent Hurricane Irene has Washington talking about cutting government spending. House Majority Leader Eric Cantor has proposed that new federal spending for Irene disaster relief be offset by spending cuts elsewhere in the budget, and a plurality (43%) of Americans thinks that's a good idea. Thirty-six percent (36%) oppose the idea, but another 21% are undecided.

Republicans post a seven-point lead over Democrats on the Generic Congressional Ballot for the week ending Sunday, September 4. The GOP has led on the ballot every week since June 2009.

In other surveys last week:

-- Most voters still want to repeal the national health care law and are more confident than ever that the law actually will be repealed.

-- A majority (62%) of voters nationwide like the idea of state governments offering jobs instead of welfare payments to those seeking work.

-- Sixty-six percent (66%) of voters think U.S. society is fair and decent, and most also believe that those who come here from other countries should adopt America's culture and language.

-- Al Gore may think it’s "BS," but most voters believe solar activity has an impact on global cooling and warming. A narrow plurality gives human activity the edge over sun activity, though, when it comes to which one has a bigger impact on the problem.

-- Despite winning a Nobel Prize and an Oscar for his work in the global warming area, Gore is viewed as an expert on the subject by just 24% of voters.

-- Hurricane Irene didn’t hit the East Coast of the United States nearly as hard as was initially projected, but Americans give the government and the media generally good marks for not taking any chances.

-- Only a small percentage of Americans consider Labor Day one of the nation’s biggest holidays, and most celebrate it as the unofficial end of summer rather than a recognition of union workers.

-- So what did Americans do this summer? Fewer adults took a summer vacation this year, for one thing, and half of those who did had to cut back for economic reasons.

[Doug64]

Leading off, the not-yet-started-for-real presidential campaign!

The presidential primary process doesn’t begin for real for another four months, but the fluctuations in our polling over the past week are a good indicator of how topsy-turvy things are likely to be in the race for the Republican nomination.

Before he entered his first debate as a presidential candidate, Texas Governor Rick Perry was the Republican frontrunner and held a three-point lead in a hypothetical matchup against President Obama. But Perry was the target for all the other candidates in the two most recent GOP debates, and now he trails the president 46% to 39%.

Perry’s chief rival for the nomination, former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, now holds a three-point lead on Obama. But the president has stretched his lead over another GOP hopeful, Minnesota Congresswoman Michele Bachmann, to 13 points. The fluctuation in Perry's, Romney's and Bachmann’s numbers comes as a Generic Republican candidate maintains a steady lead over the president.

Some people think there is room in the presidential race for a radical centrist candidate who would hold views somewhere between those of the president and whoever the Republicans nominate to oppose him. However, 44% of voters say that if there is a third-party candidate, they’d like to see someone who proposes less government spending than both the president and the Republican challenger. Only 11% would want to see a third-party candidate who proposed spending more than both the president and the GOP nominee. Twenty-nine percent (29%) would like to see the radical centrist who proposes spending in the middle - between the two major party contenders.

But voters see little chance of any third-party candidate being elected president next year. However, 53% believe it’s at least somewhat likely that a third-party candidate could win the presidency in the next 10 to 12 years, although only 16% think it’s Very Likely.

The economy is the issue on which next year’s presidential election is likely to turn as Obama’s Job Approval rating as measured by the Rasmsussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll suggests. One-out-of-two Likely U.S. Voters (50%) now believe that the president’s economic policies have hurt the economy. Thirty-two percent (32%) think the president’s policies have helped the economy, while eight percent (8%) say they’ve had no impact.

Just 17% of voters say the country is heading in the right direction, the lowest finding measured since just before Obama became president.

These findings come at a time when the president is pushing a new $447 billion program to create jobs. Thirty-eight percent (38%) of voters favor the plan which includes the continuation of certain tax breaks, the passage of several stalled free trade agreements with other countries and new spending for education, infrastructure like roads and bridges and the further extension of unemployment benefits. Nearly as many (36%) oppose the plan, while 26% are undecided about it.

The president has been pitching his jobs plan in speeches this past week in an effort to prod a reluctant Congress to pass it, but House Speaker John Boehner made clear late in the week that the tax increases Obama is proposing to pay for his plan have no chance of passage.

Most voters continue to lack confidence in members of Congress reaching across the political aisle, but they feel Democrats are doing a better job at bipartisanship these days than Republicans are.

A front-burner issue for House Republicans is the National Labor Relations Board’s challenge of Boeing’s new plant in South Carolina. The NLRB is investigating the company’s decision to build a new facility in the right-to-work state as an illegal move against the company’s labor union. Sixty-four percent (64%) of Americans think Boeing should be able to open the plant in South Carolina without NLRB interference.

A solid plurality (48%) of Americans, in fact, think labor unions have outlasted their usefulness, although there’s a sharp difference of opinion between Republicans and Democrats on the question.

The Rasmussen Consumer and Investor Indexes, which measure daily confidence in both groups, showed slight improvement this past week but are still below levels reached three months ago.

Confidence in the nation’s banks has rebounded a bit from last month’s record low, but only 47% of Americans are at least somewhat confident in the stability of the U.S. banking system, with just six percent (6%) who are Very Confident.

Eighty-five percent (85%) of Americans remain concerned about inflation, and most lack confidence in the Federal Reserve Board to keep it under control. The number of Americans who are concerned about inflation is just two points short of the highest level measured since regular tracking began in April 2009.

The president has a new headache in the Middle East, too. The Obama administration is trying to avoid a vote in the United Nations next week that would elevate the status of the Palestinian Authority, a move strongly opposed by Israel as detrimental to peace talks in the region. Just 26% of U.S. voters believe the United Nations should recognize Palestine as a new nation and grant it full membership in the UN, while 34% are opposed. However, 40% of voters are undecided on the issue.

Now that anti-government rebels appear to have won in Libya, support for the president’s decision to aid them is up slightly, but voters are still dubious that the change will be better for the United States or the Libyan people.

Confidence among voters that the situations in Iraq and Afghanistan will get better in the near future remains near all-time lows. Less than one month after the September 11, 2001 attacks, President George W. Bush ordered the invasion of Afghanistan to end that country’s harboring of al Qaeda terrorists training against the United States. Nearly 10 years later, with Afghanistan now America’s longest war, 60% of Americans think that mission remains unfinished.

In other surveys last week:

-- Americans last Sunday commemorated the 10th anniversary of the September 11, 2001 attacks on this country. One-out-of-two voters (50%) now are confident that America is safer today than it was before 9/11. That finding has been on the uptick since the killing of 9/11 mastermind Osama bin Laden in May of this year. Thirty percent (30%) don't think the country is safer, while 20% are undecided.

-- Fifty percent (50%) believe al Qaeda is weaker today than it was before 9/11. But 61% still believe it at least somewhat likely that an attack similar to 9/11 could occur within the next 10 years, including 29% who see it as Very Likely.

-- More Americans than ever believe the nation has changed for the worse since the 9/11 terrorist attacks, but most also still think the world would be a better place if more countries were like the United States.

-- One-in-three Americans (34%) say their family or friends have been directly impacted by the events that took place on September 11, 2001.

-- A plurality (41%) of adults nationwide thinks America’s allies put the United States more at risk. Thirty-six percent (36%) disagree and say those alliances make America stronger. Another nine percent (9%) say they have no impact, while 14% aren’t sure.

-- Voters nationwide continue to believe overwhelmingly that when it comes to immigration legislation the focus should be on the border. Sixty-five percent (65%) say it is more important to gain control of the border than to legalize the status of those already living illegally in the United States. Just 28% feel legalizing the status of illegal immigrants is more important.

-- Most voters continue to believe government policies encourage illegal immigration and support using the military along the U.S.-Mexican border. But they remain divided as to whether the federal government or individual states should enforce immigration laws.

[Doug64]

Leading off, what people think of the real estate market:

For many Americans, their home is their primary investment in the future. Concern remains at record levels that that investment is at risk, and the sour economy continues to play heavily on next year’s race for the White House.

Homeowners remain very pessimistic about the potential short- and long-term values of their homes. Forty percent (40%) now expect their home’s value to go down over the next year, the highest level of pessimism to date. When it comes to the longer term, 36% believe their home’s value will go up during the next five years, down from 40% last month and just one point above the lowest level measured in over two years.

The percentage of American homeowners whose home is worth less than what they still owe on it (37%) has hit the highest level in nearly three years.

For the fourth straight month, fewer than half of adults nationwide believe buying a home is the best possible investment for a family. This remains well below regular findings dating back to 2008.

No wonder then that the Rasmussen Consumer and Investor Indexes which measure daily confidence among both groups remain near year-to-date lows. More than 60% of both consumers and investors say the U.S. economy is getting worse.

With the economy still the new one issue as far as voters are concerned and with his own Job Approval numbers trending near record lows, President Obama began the week by proposing a major deficit reduction plan which calls for a mix of spending cuts and tax increases. Thirty-seven percent (37%) of Likely U.S. Voters favor the president’s plan, but 42% oppose it. Most like the president’s idea of setting a minimum tax rate for those making more than $1 million a year, but voters are lukewarm to his proposal to raise taxes on couples earning more than $250,000 annually.

Here’s a political problem, though: While 50% of Americans think the president and Congress should consider a mix of spending cuts and tax increases in looking for ways to cut the federal deficit, nearly two-out-of-three adults (64%) are unwilling to pay higher taxes themselves to reduce that deficit.

Republicans are still trusted more than Democrats to handle the economy, but the parties are now essentially tied on six out of 10 important issues that Rasmussen Reports regularly asks about.

After all, voters are more convinced than ever that neither major political party in Washington, DC is on their side. Now roughly one-out-of-two Likely U.S. Voters (49%) think it’s fair to say neither party in Congress is the party of the American people, up six points from a year ago. Perhaps these views are fed in part by the doubts voters have about what Democrats and Republicans have in mind for the future. Voters are narrowly divided over whether either party has a plan for where it wants to take the nation.

Republicans hold just a three-point advantage over Democrats on the Generic Congressional Ballot for the week ending Sunday, September 18. That’s the narrowest margin between the two parties since the first week in August. The GOP has led on the ballot every week since June 2009.

Most voters see a clear ideological divide between the leaders of the two major political parties: The Democrats are led by liberals, and the Republicans are helmed by conservatives. Twenty-nine percent (29%) of voters remain conservative on both fiscal and social issues. Just 10% say they are fiscal and social liberals. Sixty-one percent (61%) are some other combination. These findings are consistent with surveys back to November 2007, as is the continuing pattern that voters tend to be more fiscally conservative than socially conservative.

A generic Republican candidate holds a five-point advantage over the president – 47% to 42% - in a hypothetical 2012 election matchup for the week ending Sunday, September 18. This is the 11th week in a row the Republican has led the incumbent.

Obama and former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney continue to run neck-and-neck in a hypothetical Election 2012 matchup. The latest Rasmussen Reports national survey of Likely U.S. Voters shows the president’s support at 44%, while Romney earns 41% of the vote. Seven percent (7%) prefer some other candidate, and another seven percent (7%) are undecided.

More than 80% of likely Republican Primary voters say Romney and Texas Governor Rick Perry are likely to beat the president in the general election, but they are less confident about Minnesota Congresswoman Michele Bachmann and Texas Congressman Ron Paul doing the same.

As of now, the 2012 Republican Presidential Primary race is all about Perry and Romney, with no other candidate reaching double-digit support. It’ll be interesting to see if these numbers change after Thursday night’s GOP debate in Orlando, Florida. Perry, in particular, had a bad night with all the other candidates gunning for the frontrunner.

Romney is the runaway leader in the race for the 2012 Republican nomination in New Hampshire, home of next year’s first presidential primary. He earns 39% of the vote in Rasmussen Reports’ first telephone survey of Likely Republican Primary Voters in New Hampshire in the Election 2012 campaign season. Perry is a distant second with 18% support, followed by Texas Congressman Ron Paul at 13%. The other announced GOP candidates are all in single digits.

Bachmann continues to fade in the latest hypothetical 2012 matchup with Obama. The president is now ahead of the congresswoman by 16 points, 48% to 32%.

Former Utah Governor Jon Huntsman is having difficulty gaining traction in the race for the Republican presidential nomination, but he fares about the same as some of the top GOP contenders in a matchup with the president. Obama earns 43% of the vote to Huntsman’s 35% in a one-on-one matchup with the man who recently stepped down as his ambassador to China.

Recent polling shows the president attracting between 39% and 46% of the vote against a variety of potential Republican challengers. Despite those relatively low levels of support, the president has never trailed a Republican by more than three percentage points and has enjoyed double-digit leads in some matchups. But always there are a decent number of voters who say they prefer a third option or are undecided. Currently, among those who are undecided, just 34% approve of the way the president has handled his job, while 64% disapprove. Among those who prefer a third option rather than Obama or a particular GOP candidate, the president’s numbers are even weaker: 13% approve, and 87% disapprove.

In other surveys last week:

-- Most voters continue to favor repeal of the national health care law and view the law as bad for the country.

-- With less than a week to go before the end of the 2011 regular season, the Philadelphia Phillies are the odds-on favorite among baseball fans to win this year’s World Series.

-- Nineteen percent (19%) of Likely U.S. Voters now say the country is heading in the right direction, down 10 points from this time last year. Since the third week in July, the number of voters who are confident in the nation’s current course has resembled levels measured in the final months of the Bush administration.

-- While the economy continues to stumble along, fewer Americans than ever (23%) report they owe more money than they did a year ago.

-- Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has her hands full with the ongoing unrest in the Middle East, but she remains the most popular member of Obama's Cabinet.

-- While voters continue to give the U.S. Supreme Court’s job performance lukewarm reviews, they are a bit less likely to say the justices are too politically liberal.

[Doug64]

No real surprises, the generic Republican still beats Obama, actual Republican candidates are more neck-and-neck or lose, and Americans don't think much of their government:

Despite the media chatter to the contrary, the race for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination has changed little in surveys over the past week, but a wild card may be lurking in New Jersey.

One’s in the race and at week’s end one was reportedly contemplating a run, but for now former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney and New Jersey Governor Chris Christie are both essentially even with President Obama in hypothetical Election 2012 matchups.

Romney, who’s been running neck-and-neck with Obama for several weeks, holds a slight 44% to 42% lead over the president now. Obama wins 44% support, while potential newcomer Christie picks up 43% in their matchup. However, just 26% believe the first-term governor is likely to run for the White House, and only 20% think he should seek the White House.

And Scott Rasmussen points out, “As Rick Perry has recently demonstrated, it’s easier being on the outside with people begging you to run than it is to actually run a campaign.”

While Perry has been widely criticized for his recent debate performance in Florida, that criticism doesn't seem to have moved the numbers so far when the Texas governor’s matched against the president. Obama still holds a single-digit lead – 44% to 38% - over Perry, the frontrunner in our most recent survey of the GOP primary race.

Herman Cain is perhaps the chief beneficiary of Perry’s problems, most notably winning a high profile straw poll last weekend in Florida. But the Georgia businessman’s numbers in a general election matchup against the president are also little changed. Obama earns 39% support, while Cain attracts 34%.

As for another GOP hopeful, Texas Congressman Ron Paul, he now trails the president by 10 points – 44% to 34% - after being in a near tie with Obama a month ago.

Out of the top five Republican candidates running for the White House in 2012, Romney is the only one a plurality of all voters (43%) continues to consider qualified to be president. But Republican voters see three of the candidates – Romney, Perry and Cain - as qualified.

A generic Republican candidate has fallen into a near tie with the president – leading 46% to 43% - in a hypothetical 2012 election matchup for the week ending Sunday, September 25. The Republican has been leading Obama in weekly surveys for nearly three months now.

But the upcoming election cycle promises a lot more excitement than just the race for the presidency. Thirty-three U.S. Senate seats will be up for grabs, and Democrats have more than twice as many seats at stake as Republicans do. This past week, Rasmussen Reports conducted its first of countless Senate surveys in the months to come, this one focusing on one of the most closely watched 2012 races – the showdown in Virginia. For now, the Virginia Senate race is a virtual tie: Former Democratic Governor Tim Kaine earns 46% support to ex-Republican Senator George Allen’s 45%.

Ratings for Congress are up slightly from the record lows of the past two months, but most voters still think it's doing a poor job. They're also a bit less convinced that most members of Congress are corrupt.

Voters continue to dislike the top leaders in Congress, but they also still express more dissatisfaction with the Democratic leaders than their GOP counterparts.

This helps explain why 71% of Likely U.S. Voters favor establishing term limits for all members of Congress. But only 18% think Congress is even somewhat likely to pass legislation that establishes term limits on people elected to Congress.

Republicans hold just a two-point advantage over Democrats – 42% to 40% - on the Generic Congressional Ballot for the week ending Sunday, September 25. That is the highest level of support for Democrats in nearly three months and ties the narrowest margin between the two parties in the last two years.

Dissatisfaction with Congress, like continuing unhappiness with the president as reflected in his Job Approval ratings, is tied largely to the sorry state of the U.S. economy.

At the close of the week, the Rasmussen Consumer Index, which measures the economic confidence of consumers on a daily basis, was just one point above the year-to-date low. Two-thirds of consumers and investors in the country believe the United States is in a recession.

So what’s Washington’s response? While voters strongly support major cuts in government spending, just 22% think it’s even somewhat likely that the president and congressional Republicans will reach an agreement to significantly cut long-term spending trends before the 2012 election.

Americans also think tax hikes are more likely than spending cuts in any deficit reduction deal that comes out of Congress and are more convinced than ever that any new tax monies will be spent on new government programs.

Fifty-six percent (56%) of voters are in favor of a balanced budget amendment to put the brakes on government spending, but just 33% say it’s even somewhat likely that such an amendment to the U.S. Constitution will become law in the near future.

Voters certainly aren’t impressed with what the president and Congress have come up with so far. Consider, for example, that ever since General Motors and Chrysler accepted government bailouts, Ford has been the nation’s most popular auto manufacturer, and new numbers show that that hasn’t changed despite sizable repayments from both bailed-out companies.

In fact, while federal bailout funding may have prevented GM from going through a normal bankruptcy process, it has come at a significant price in terms of reputation and potential buyers. Fifty percent (50%) of American adults are less likely to buy a GM car because of the bailout, while 51% are more likely to buy from Ford simply because it did not accept a taxpayer-funded bailout.

Major questions also linger about the $787-billion economic stimulus plan proposed by Obama and passed by Congress early in 2009. Now federal investigators are looking into the questionable financial dealings of solar panel manufacturer Solyndra, a firm with close political ties to the Obama administration and a recipient of a sizable loan guarantee courtesy of the stimulus plan when private investors weren’t interested. Fifty-seven percent (57%) of voters think free market competition is more likely than government subsidies and regulation to help the United States develop alternative sources of energy, and 59% say the government should not provide money for an alternative energy company after private investors refuse to invest in it.

Most Americans also disagree with the president and many congressional Democrats when it comes to government help for those who can’t afford to make their mortgage payments. Sixty-five percent (65%) say if someone can’t afford to make their payments, they should sell their home and find a less expensive one. Just 22% feel the government should assist them in making their payments.

In other surveys last week:

-- Seventeen percent (17%) of Likely U.S. Voters now say the country is heading in the right direction. Since the third week in July, the number of voters who are confident in the nation’s current course has resembled levels measured in the final months of the Bush administration

-- Voters continue to be pessimistic about America’s future. Just 35% think America’s best days are in the future, while a plurality (47%) says the country's best days are in the past. Seventeen percent (17%) are not sure.

-- The recent execution of Troy Davis for murdering a Georgia policeman prompted controversy here and abroad, but it did little to shift opinions on capital punishment. Sixty percent (60%) of American Adults favor the death penalty, while just 28% oppose it. But nearly three-out-of-four (74%) are at least somewhat concerned that people might be executed for crimes they did not commit.

-- More than a third of voters believe the U.S. legal system worries too much about individual rights when it comes to public safety, but fewer believe it puts those rights over protecting national security.

-- Rasmussen Reports periodically asks Likely U.S. Voters to rate political labels, and the latest national telephone survey finds that 39% consider it a positive when a political candidate is described as being “pro-gun.” Twenty-seven percent (27%) see this as a negative description, while another 30% say it lies somewhere in between. It’s more popular, however, than being linked to a union or being described as “a global warming advocate.”

-- While few Americans see Russia as an enemy of the United States, they still don’t have high opinions of the man who will likely reclaim his role as its president. Only11% share even a somewhat favorable opinion of Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.

-- Flu season is upon us again, but just 46% of Americans nationwide plan to get a flu shot this year. Over a quarter of adults say they are less likely to get one because of the mildness of last year’s flu season.

[Doug64]

I was worried that I wouldn't be able to continue this, because Rasmussen has switched to a "pay to view" for most of its content and even if I was willing to pay the minimal monthly fee I wouldn't feel right reposting entire articles for people that haven't. But it looks like this particular article is generic enough to continue as is, free for all viewers, whew!

For this week, the sun still rises in the east, and a majority of Americans still generally neither like nor trust their government.

Americans need something to believe in because right now their faith in the nation’s future is scraping rock bottom.

Eighteen percent (18%) of Likely U.S. Voters say the country is heading in the right direction, down 14 points from last year. Since late July, the number of voters who are confident in the nation’s current course has resembled levels measured in the final months of the Bush administration. In early May 2009, just months after President Obama took office, 40% felt things were headed the right way.

Americans are less confident than ever that the United States is still number one economically. Just 29% of Adults now believe the United States has the best economy in the world. Perhaps these views are driven in part by the increased skepticism that Americans have about Obama's economic advisers. Just 31% are at least somewhat confident in those who advise the president on economic policy, with 14% who are Very Confident.

At the beginning of 2011, Americans were more likely to believe that unemployment was heading down rather than up. Pessimism has grown throughout the year and those expectations have now reversed. Thirty-six percent (36%) of Americans believe the unemployment rate will be higher one year from now and only 21% expect it to be lower. Just 12% say the job market is better today than it was a year ago, the lowest level of optimism measured since August 2009.

The Rasmussen Consumer and Investor Indexes, which measure daily economic confidence, show that confidence remains down from the beginning of 2011 with most Americans believing that things are getting worse.

The Rasmussen Employment Index, which measures workers’ perceptions of the labor market each month, regained some lost ground in September but is still down 10 points from last November when hiring expectations peaked.

The president’s latest initiative is a sizable jobs creation bill, but just 31% of Americans see a major role for government in the jobs market, with 21% who think the government should hire those long out of work and 10% who say the government should extend unemployment benefits indefinitely. Fifty-seven percent (57%) feel the government should largely butt out, with 32% who think it should do nothing at all and 25% who believe it should only pay for the retraining of the long-term unemployed.

From their beginning in 2008, the bailouts for Wall Street and the auto industry have been among the most unpopular government actions in recent American history. New polling shows that even after three years, these attitudes haven’t changed all that much. Just 31% of American Adults believe it was a good idea for the government to provide bailout funding for General Motors and Chrysler.

Similarly, only 20% think it was a good idea for the government to bailout banks and other financial institutions. Most Americans feel as strongly as ever that the government was looking out for bankers rather than taxpayers and that crimes on Wall Street remain unpunished.

No wonder then that 79% agree with the slogan now being chanted by protestors on Wall Street that “the big banks got bailed out, but the middle class got left behind.” Perhaps given their view of how the bailouts worked for Wall Street rather than Main Street, it is not surprising that Americans strongly believe more free market competition rather than more government regulation is the way to solve the problem.

Yet while many activists try to link the Republican Party and Wall Street, Republicans think the bank bailouts were a bad idea by an eight-to-one margin. Those not affiliated with either major party think they were a bad idea by a four-to-one margin. Democrats are much more evenly divided.

Most voters still favor repeal of the national health care law and expect the law to drive up health care costs and the federal deficit.

Working-age Americans also remain skeptical about receiving the Social Security benefits they were promised and mistakenly believe money in the Social Security Trust Fund can be used only to pay promised benefits. Three-out-of four seniors expect to receive all their promised benefits, and those aged 50-64 are evenly divided. Among those under 50, a majority does not expect such a return.

Given this economic pessimism, it’s no surprise that the president’s job approval ratings remain at record lows. The full-month Presidential Approval Index rating for September also remains at an all-time low of -21. Aside from the past two-months, the president’s approval index rating has stayed between -11 and -17 since the beginning of 2010.

However, voters overwhelmingly reject the idea that opponents of Oabama’s policies are motivated primarily by racism, although there’s a strong difference of opinion between blacks and whites on this question.

A generic Republican held a six-point advantage over the president – 47% to 41% - in a hypothetical 2012 matchup for the week ending Sunday, October 2. The generic candidate has now led Obama weekly for three months in a row.

Georgia businessman Herman Cain has been surging in the race for the Republican nomination.

While Rick Perry continues to take a hammering in the media and from his opponents for the Republican presidential nomination, Obama’s single-digit lead over the Texas governor – 43% to 37% - remains virtually unchanged over the past month. Former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum continues to trail the president by double-digits – 45% to 34% - in a potential 2012 matchup. Former New Mexico Governor Gary Johnson who recently made his first Republican debate appearance earns the lowest level of support against Obama out of all the 2012 GOP hopefuls. He trails the president 42% to 27%.

In 2008, Obama became the first Democrat to win Virginia’s Electoral College votes since the Beatles were a brand new act in America in 1964. However, an early look at the 2012 race in the Old Dominion suggests winning twice in a row is not a sure thing for the president.

Voters are fairly satisfied with the number of debates in the race for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination, but most don’t think debate moderators ask enough about the major issues facing the nation.

Republicans continue to lead Democrats on the Generic Congressional Ballot as they have for well over two years now. The number of Republicans and Democrats in the country is just about even. The gap between the parties is the smallest it has ever been in nearly nine years of monthly tracking.

In other surveys last week:

-- Voters remain overwhelmingly convinced that most politicians won’t keep their campaign promises, but they’re a little less convinced that their elected officials deliberately lie.

-- Voters of all races nationwide continue to view relations between whites, blacks and Hispanics as a work in progress.

-- Americans believe more strongly than ever that China is a long-term threat to the United States, and they overwhelmingly feel that threat is economic rather than military.

-- Half of Americans nationwide believe the Federal Reserve Board chairman has too much power over the economy, and just 26% have a favorable opinion of current Chairman Ben Bernanke.

-- Only 11% of American Adults believe Amanda Knox is guilty of murdering her flatmate in Italy four years ago, but a plurality (44%) feels the media played an important part in overturning her conviction.

-- Sixty-one percent (61%) of voters continue to believe global warming is at least a somewhat serious problem, with 28% who think it’s Very Serious. Forty-four percent (44%) feel global warming is primarily caused by long-term planetary trends, while 36% say it’s due to human activity.

[Doug64]

What d'ya know, for the moment at least Cain is competitive with Obama.

Republican presidential hopeful Jon Huntsman quipped at last Tuesday night’s debate that at first he thought rival Herman Cain’s 9-9-9 plan was the price of a pizza. Cain, the former CEO of Godfather’s Pizza, wasn’t amused, but for now at least he’s having the last laugh.

Following the debate focused on economic issues, Cain is tied with former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney in the race for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination. Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich is the only other candidate in double digits. Republican voters think either front-runner would be likely to defeat President Obama, but most still expect Romney to be the nominee.

Romney remains neck-and-neck with Obama in the latest hypothetical Election 2012 matchup of the two men. They’ve been virtually tied for several weeks. But now Cain has pulled within three points of the president – 42% to 39% - in their latest matchup. This is Cain’s best showing to date. Obama held a seven-point lead over the Georgia businessman in late August.

Forty percent (40%) of Likely U.S. Voters favor Cain’s 9-9-9 tax reform plan once they’re told that it would eliminate all existing federal taxes and replace them with a nine percent flat tax on household income (allowing only charitable deductions), a nine percent corporate tax and a nine percent national sales tax. Most GOP voters (56%) support the plan, compared to 27% of Democrats and 36% of unaffiliated voters. However, the large number of people with no opinion means that these numbers could shift significantly if Cain remains a top contender for the GOP nomination.

Most voters also feel that if the 9-9-9 plan becomes law, Congress won’t wait long to raise the tax rates higher. Cain acknowledged and addressed that concern during an interview with Scott Rasmussen for the Rasmussen Report on radio. The candidate said his plan would require a two-thirds vote in Congress to raise taxes.

Texas Governor Rick Perry now trails Obama by double digits – 49% to 35% - in their Election 2012 matchup. That’s a dramatic change for the former GOP front-runner who was within single digits of the president in recent weeks. Before he entered his first debate as a presidential candidate, Perry held a modest lead over Obama.

Gingrich may have moved into a distant third place in the GOP primary race, but the former House speaker trails the president by 15 points – 49% to 34% - in their general election matchup. Support for Gingrich is up slightly from 30% in June.

A generic Republican candidate still leads Obama in a hypothetical 2012 contest, as he has for three months now. But 72% of voters complain that presidential election campaigns last too long. Only 18% disagree.

Voters remain unhappy with the president’s job performance, and his fortunes next fall are tied strongly to the fate of the economy. A majority (51%) of voters continue to blame the nation’s current economic problems on the recession that began under President George W. Bush rather than Obama’s economic policies. Forty-three percent (43%) blame the current president’s policies more.

But just 16% of all voters now say the country is heading in the right direction, down 16 points from this time last year. Since the third week in July, the number of voters who are confident in the nation’s current course has resembled levels measured in the final months of the Bush administration, with voter confidence remaining in the narrow range of 14% to 19%.

Confidence in the stability of the nation’s banks, meanwhile, has fallen to a new low. Just 35% of American Adults are even somewhat confident in the stability of the U.S. banking industry, two points below the previous low reached in August. To put this in context, overall confidence in U.S. banks is currently lower than it was in February 2009 in the early days of the bailout era. Prior to the financial industry meltdown in the fall of 2008, 68% expressed confidence in the stability of the U.S. banking system.

The Rasmussen Consumer Index, which measures the economic confidence of consumers on a daily basis, fell five points on Friday to its lowest level since March 11, 2009. Consumer confidence is down 10 points from three months ago.

While few Americans report paying higher interest rates than they did a year ago, only 33% are at least somewhat confident that the Federal Reserve will be able to keep inflation under control and interest rates down, with just seven percent (7%) who are Very Confident. A year ago, 41% were at least somewhat confident that the Fed, which came under strong criticism at the recent GOP debate, would be able to control these areas.

The United States is putting pressure on Europe to deal with its debt crisis as quickly as possible to avoid a global economic meltdown. Although most Americans expect at least one of the European countries to default on its debt in the next few years, half believe it’s still possible for the U.S. economy to recover even if Europe’s remains in trouble.

To spur the nation’s anemic job growth, the president is hoping to raise taxes on wealthier Americans to help fund his job creation plan. While most voters continue to oppose tax increases, 47% say they would support a candidate who plans to raise taxes for the wealthiest Americans over one who promises to oppose all tax increases (38%).

Speaking of the economy, Americans still aren’t following news of the Occupy Wall Street protests very closely and have mixed opinions of both the protesters and their authenticity. Thirty-six percent (36%) of voters have a favorable opinion of the Occupy Wall Street protesters, while 41% offer an unfavorable opinion. Forty-three percent (43%) believe the protests are made up of citizens reflecting the concerns of their neighbors, but 38% say they are phony efforts drummed up by special interest groups and unions. These top-line numbers are broadly similar to perceptions of the congressional town hall protesters in the summer of 2009.

The protesters two years ago were fired up in part by their opposition to the national health care law being proposed by the president and congressional Democrats. Although the law ultimately was passed, it remains highly unpopular. As a result of the new law, an independent panel recently recommended to the Obama administration how the government should decide what level of coverage most health insurance policies should be required to have. But voters strongly oppose a government-mandated level of health insurance coverage.

While the health care debate continues to dominate the political landscape, most voters feel individual lifestyle choices – in short, personal responsibility - play a bigger role than their level of medical care in determining how healthy someone is. But there’s a wide partisan gap on the question.

On a positive note, confidence in the safety of the nation from terrorism has reached a new high. Fifty-five percent (55%) of Likely Voters now think the United States is safer today than it was before the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. In June 2004, just 36% said the country was safer.

Overseas, however, as fighting drags on in Libya, support for U.S. military action there and confidence that a change of government in the North African country will be good for the United States have fallen to new lows. Voters continue to give a mixed response about the future of the war in Iraq, but remain more negative about the U.S. conflict in Afghanistan.

In other surveys last week:

-- Nearly two-out-of-three voters continue to expect increased partisanship in Washington, DC and to think both parties are to blame. Voters still tend to see the congressional agendas of both major political parties as out of the mainstream and view the president and the average member of Congress as out of step with them ideologically.

-- Republicans hold a five-point lead over Democrats – 43% to 38% - on the Generic Congressional Ballot for the week ending Sunday, October 9. The GOP has led on the ballot every week since June 2009.

-- Most Americans nationwide continue to believe that government workers get more pay and better job security but don’t work as hard as their counterparts in the private sector.

-- A majority of Americans hold a favorable opinion of Steve Jobs, Apple Computer’s co-founder and CEO who died recently, and nearly half (48%) think his company will remain a technological leader despite his passing.

-- Most Republicans have favorable opinions of New Jersey Governor Chris Christie and freshman Florida Senator Marco Rubio, but for a sizable chunk of voters both men are largely unknown.

-- Most Americans still question the prestige of the Nobel Prizes and think politics plays a part in who wins them.

-- Christopher Columbus is still generally regarded as the explorer who “discovered” America, and most adults in this country think the United States should remember him with a holiday. But they don’t rate Columbus Day, celebrated officially last Monday, very high on the list of U.S. holidays.

[Doug64]

Not a whole lot new, the Cain's getting his moment in the sun.

Not much hope and a strong desire for change – it sounds like 2008 all over again. Will Herman Cain ride that wave into the White House like Barack Obama before him?

Just 15% of Likely U.S. Voters now say the country is heading in the right direction, down 15 points from this time last year. Since the third week in July, the number of voters who are confident in the nation’s current course has resembled levels measured in the final months of the Bush administration.

Just three-out-of-five American adults (59%) rate their own lives today as good or excellent. That’s down nine points from 68% in May 2006.

Homeowners continue to worry about the short- and long-term value of their homes, with just 16% expecting the value of their home to go up this year. One-out-of three U.S. homeowners (34%) continue to say their home is worth less than what they owe on their mortgage.

Although the government reported a modest increase in housing starts in September, the number of adults nationwide who say now is not a good time to sell a home in their area has reached an all-time high of 80%.

The Rasmussen Consumer Index, which measures daily consumer confidence, was down 21 points from the first of the year on Friday, with 59% of consumers saying their personal finances are getting worse. Similarly, most investors (54%) think the finances are worsening, according to the Rasmussen Investor Index which also fell at week’s end.

No wonder then that when it comes to voting decisions, the economy is still far and away the most important issue on voters’ minds. Unlike for much of the Bush years, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and national security are at the bottom of the list of voter concerns regularly tracked by Rasmussen Reports.

While President Obama and other Democrats try to align themselves with the growing Occupy Wall Street protest movement, most voters don't share their enthusiasm for more government intervention in the economy. Instead, voters continue to think the bigger problem is that big business and big government work together against the interests of the rest of us. Scott Rasmussen will explore the disconnect between the so-called Political Class and Mainstream voters on The Rasmussen Report radio program tomorrow. Catch The Rasmussen Report – and give Scott a call – this Sunday live at 3:06 p.m. Eastern time. It can be heard on WLS 890 AM in Chicago, WMAL 105.9 FM and 630 AM in Washington, D.C. and online everywhere.

Voters are closely divided over the role they want the federal government to play in the current economy, but they remain positive that bailouts are one way they don’t want to go. Fifty-four percent (54%) of voters believe the government bailouts of the auto industry and financial sector were bad for the country. Twenty-six percent (26%) think the bailouts were good for America, and 20% are undecided. But voters are a little more ambivalent when it comes to a role for government in the current economy: 43% now worry that the government will do too much in reacting to the nation’s current economic problems, but slightly more (46%) fear that the government will not respond enough.

One thing for sure, most voters still want to see the national health care law repealed, and now 58% think it is at least somewhat likely that the unpopular measure will be repealed. That’s the highest level of confidence in repeal since the law was passed by Congress 19 months ago.

Perhaps the key player on the federal government’s economic team is the Federal Reserve Bank which a growing number of Republican presidential candidates want to abolish or severely restrict. Only 34% of voters share at least a somewhat favorable opinion of the Fed, with just five percent (5%) who have a Very Favorable view of it. But the Political Class strongly disagrees. Seventy-nine percent (79%) of the Political Class views the Fed favorably, while 57% of Mainstream voters hold an unfavorable opinion of the institution created in 1913 to regulate America’s money supply and oversee the nation’s banks.

An increasing number of GOP presidential candidates are also now talking about returning the U.S. monetary system to the gold standard, but voters send mixed signals about such a move. Most like the idea, though, when told it would reduce government control of the economy.

Fifty-three percent (53%) of voters also think it’s more important for the government to treat all taxpayers equally than for the tax code to be used to encourage things like home ownership, charitable contributions and industries favored by government policy. Twenty-nine percent (29%) disagree and believe the government should use the tax code to advance its agenda in certain areas. Eighteen percent (18%) are undecided.

How’s the public unhappiness with the economy – and the government’s response to it - playing out on the political front? The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll shows little change in Obama’s job approval numbers. A generic Republican candidate continues to lead the president in a hypothetical 2012 matchup. Since weekly tracking began in early May, the Republican has earned 43% to 49% support, while the president has picked up 40% to 45% of the vote. The generic candidate has now led Obama for over three months, but the race is closer once the GOP candidate is named.

Whether Cain’s surge in the polls is temporary or has staying power, he’s enjoying a big enough bounce to take a very slight 43% to 41% lead over Obama in their latest matchup. At the moment, the Georgia businessman is the only Republican with a lead of any kind over Obama, although former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney has held a similar advantage several times.

Romney and the president continue to run virtually even in a Election 2012 matchup as they have for the past several weeks. Following a fiery debate Tuesday night, Texas Governor Rick Perry now trails Obama by eight points – 44% to 36%. Before he entered his first debate as a presidential candidate, Perry held a modest lead over the president.

Reflecting national trends, Cain has now jumped to the front of the Republican pack in Iowa, too. The latest Rasmussen Reports survey of Likely Iowa caucus-goers shows Cain out front with 28% support, followed by Romney at 21%. Texas Congressman Ron Paul is a distant third at 10%. Perry finishes in sixth place, a sharp decline from early September when he was the front-runner both nationally and in Iowa.

Will the winner of next November’s election have another war on his plate? Most voters are aware that the United States has accused Iran of attempting to assassinate the ambassador from Saudi Arabia in this county, and 55% of voters think it’s at least somewhat likely that the United States will end up in a war with Iran in the next five years or so. However, only 17% think it’s Very Likely.

In other surveys last week:

-- Republicans continue to lead on the Generic Congressional Ballot as they have for over two years now. The GOP holds a three-point advantage over Democrats for the week ending Sunday, October 16.

-- For most Americans (59%), the best years of their lives happen before they turn 40.

-- Canada and Great Britain are still viewed by most Americans as the nation’s top allies on a list of 18 major countries regularly in the news. Iran and North Korea remain as the countries Americans consider our worst enemies.

-- Describing a political candidate as being “like Bill Clinton” isn’t up there in popularity with a comparison to Ronald Reagan, but it’s much better than being called “a centrist,” a phrase often used for politicians willing to compromise.

-- Most voters still strongly agree with automatic immigration status checks when a police officer pulls someone over for a routine traffic stop. They also continue to favor tough sanctions on employers who hire illegal immigrants and landlords who rent or sell to them.

-- As they have for years, the majority of voters continue to believe that immigration legislation should focus on border control over legalizing the status of illegals already in this country.

-- Most adults nationwide support the use of surveillance cameras on police cars and in public spaces like train stations and parks, but they aren’t quite as sold on the idea of installing them at traffic intersections.

[Doug64]

And Cain's day in the sun continues, but anti-Romneys don't really seem to be uniting behind a single candidate.

For many conservatives and Tea Party voters, the race for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination boils down to “anyone but Romney.” Yet the former Massachusetts governor remains a frontrunner for the nomination, while the various conservative hopefuls rise and fall.

Romney is still the GOP presidential contender who voters consider most qualified to be president, although he falls short of the number who feel that way about President Obama. But most GOP voters think all four top hopefuls for their party’s presidential nomination have what it takes, although they’re a little less sure about Herman Cain.

The Republican numbers tell an interesting story. Cain has surged to challenge Romney in recent weeks as Texas Governor Rick Perry has stumbled. But our latest numbers show that 61% of GOP voters now think Perry is qualified to be president, up from 52% in late September and virtually tying the number who feel that way about Romney. In that same period, however, the number of Republicans who think Cain is qualified to be president as risen only marginally from 49% to 52%.

But those numbers still don’t translate to all voters at large. Romney is the only Republican who consistently runs even with Obama, running neck-and-neck with the incumbent again this past week. The two men have been within two points of each other in surveys since mid-September. Frontrunners for the nomination typically run better than other challengers in early general election match ups.

Rasmussen Reports is also beginning to survey the coming Senate races around the country. Former Governor Tommy Thompson is the leading vote getter in our first Election 2012 survey of the race in Wisconsin to replace retiring U.S. Senator Herb Kohl. Thompson, a Republican, earns 49% support from Likely Voters in the state, while Congresswoman Tammy Baldwin, the only major declared Democratic candidate, picks up 42% of the vote. Baldwin runs virtually even with former Congressman Mark Neumann and seven points ahead of Jeff Fitzgerald, speaker of the Wisconsin State Assembly.

Herman Cain's surge to front-runner status prompted his Republican rivals to pile on during their most recent debate and also brought on a lot more media coverage. After taking a very slight lead over the president, Cain now trails the incumbent by six points – 44% to 36% - in their latest matchup.

Perry made a media splash Tuesday when he unveiled his flat tax proposal, but his numbers against the president are little changed from the week before. Obama picks up 45% of the vote to Perry’s 38%. Before he entered his first debate as a presidential candidate, Perry held a modest lead over the president. The Texan’s faltering debate performances seriously dinged his numbers, and he is now considering foregoing most debates in the future.

A sizable number of voters want a simpler and fairer tax system but give generally negative reviews to some of the flat tax proposals that have been floated this campaign season.

Former Utah Governor Jon Huntsman, who himself opted out of the most recent Republican debate, trails the president by seven points – 39% to 32% - in their latest matchup. While Obama's support against Huntsman is down in the latest poll, the president led him by a similar margin last month.

The latest look at the Republican Primary race in New Hampshire shows Romney remains the clear front-runner with 41% support. While support for Romney in the state is relatively unchanged from September, Cain’s support has jumped from four percent (4%) to 17% since then. Perry, who came in second to Romney in New Hampshire with 18% last month, now receives just four percent (4%) of the vote.

All names aside, however, a generic Republican candidate leads the president in a hypothetical 2012 matchup again this past week. The generic candidate has led now for over three months.

But then perceptions of the president’s handling of the economy – still the most important issue as far as voters are concerned – have fallen to a new low. Only 28% of Likely Voters believe the president is doing a good or excellent job on the economy, while 49% rate his performance in this area as poor. When it comes to national security, the president continues to fare better: 47% give him good or excellent marks for the job he is dong in this area versus 26% who give him a poor rating.

Polls show a bounce in support for Obama’s policy in Libya following the death of the country’s longtime dictator Moammar Gadhafi, but most voters still don’t expect the new Libyan government to become an ally of the United States.

Obama’s job approval rating as measured by the Rasmussen Reports Daily Presidential Tracking Poll continues to parallel voter sentiments about the economy. Just 18% of voters Strongly Approved of the job the president is doing at one point this past week, the lowest finding of his presidency to date.

Both the Rasmussen Consumer and Investor Indexes, which measure daily confidence among the two groups, remain more than 20 points below where they were at the start of the year. Just eight percent (8%) of those in the two groups rate the U.S. economy as good or excellent, while more than 60% see it as poor.

The president traveled to several states this past week to pitch portions of his new jobs plan and other government initiatives he believes will boost the economy. But Americans nationwide feel stronger than ever that the government has too much power and money, and very few believe it spends taxpayer money the right way.

Voters are becoming increasingly skeptical about the level of spending on the military and national security, and they feel more strongly than ever that the United States should remove its troops from Western Europe.

One of the loudest demands by the Occupy Wall Street protesters is for forgiveness of the nearly $1 trillion worth of student loans, but Americans strongly oppose forgiving that debt. Even as the president talks about easing the burden on those with student loans, Americans are more inclined to think the government should help those who haven’t gone to college instead.

The Occupy Wall Street protesters have been compared by some with the Tea Party protests that erupted more than two years ago in reaction to Washington’s big government spending plans. Americans are evenly divided in their opinions of those currently protesting against Wall Street but tend to see their own views as more in line with those of the Tea Party.

Yet despite questions about the size and cost of government, voters draw the line at the radical measures proposed by GOP candidate Ron Paul who calls for the elimination of five Cabinet-level departments to save $1 trillion annually. A plurality (46%) favors eliminating the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, but nearly as many (42%) are opposed. More voters oppose than favor getting rid of the departments of Education, Commerce, Energy and Interior. Democrats are more strongly opposed to cutting all of the departments than Republicans are.

As has been the case for over two years now, Republicans remain ahead of Democrats on the Generic Congressional Ballot. The GOP extended its lead to eight points – 44% to 36% - for the week ending Sunday, October 23.

Positive ratings for Congress’ job performance continue to hover near record lows, while the number of voters who feel the national legislators are more interested in their own careers than in helping people matches the all-time high. Democratic congressional leaders Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid remain more unpopular than their GOP counterparts John Boehner and Mitch McConnell, but all four have higher unfavorables than favorables.

In other surveys last week:

-- Sixteen percent (16%) of Likely U.S. Voters now say the country is heading in the right direction, down 16 points from this time last year. Since the third week in July, the number of voters who are confident in the nation’s current course has resembled levels measured in the final months of the Bush administration.

-- Just 37% of voters think America's best days are in the future, while 45% say those days are in the past.

-- The bad economy, a change in presidents, bailouts, health care, the Tea Party and now another presidential cycle, you name it. Still, the basic fiscal and social ideologies of U.S. voters remain largely unchanged. Twenty-seven percent (27%) say they are both fiscal and social conservatives. Just 11% say they are liberal in both areas, while 62% are some other combination.

-- Forty-nine percent (49%) of Americans oppose a single-payer health care system where the federal government provides coverage for everyone, down just slightly from previous surveys. Fifty-two percent (52%) of Democrats support such a system. Seventy-eight percent (78%) of Republicans and a plurality (48%) of those not affiliated with either political party are opposed to it.

-- Nearly one-half (48%) of Likely U.S. Voters now say Obama is the politician whose endorsement would be least likely to make them vote for a candidate. The president owes his “lead” over others largely because Republicans are united in their opposition to the president. Democrats are evenly divided between former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin and former President George W. Bush as the least valuable endorser. The good news for all candidates is that just two percent (2%) of voters view the prominent people who campaign for someone as most important than policies or party when they go to the polls.

-- Despite some candidates campaigning as political “outsiders”, 50% would rather vote for a candidate who has political experience over one who has never held office. Twenty-five percent (25%) would rather vote for someone who has never held office, while 24% are undecided.

-- Americans still overwhelmingly believe that volunteering is more important than getting involved in politics in terms of serving their community, and most have done some kind of volunteer work within the past month.

[Doug64]

So Herman Cain's still hanging in there. Bit of a surprise, that, but we'll see what the future holds.

Herman Cain is beating the odds so far. Despite this week’s media frenzy about sexual harassment allegations against him in the 1990s, Cain says his fundraising is up, and his poll numbers in the Republican presidential race are as good as ever.

The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey of Likely GOP Primary voters – taken Wednesday night after three days of press coverage about the allegations - shows the Georgia businessman with 26% of the vote over former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney’s 23%. Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich draws 14% support, with no other Republican contender reaching double-digits. It is important to note, however, that only 32% of GOP voters nationwide are firmly committed to their current candidate. Most (68%) say it is possible something could come up that causes them to change their minds.

Cain leads the GOP field in South Carolina with 33% support. Romney is 10 points behind, and Gingrich again is the only other candidate with double-digit support. The survey was conducted on Tuesday night. Of those who are currently certain of their vote, Cain leads Romney by 12.

Two-thirds of America’s voters now recognize that Cain is the Republican candidate who has been accused of sexual harassment. Voters are evenly divided about the seriousness of the allegations, but most Republicans believe the public airing of the charges suggests Cain is considered a serious threat to win the nomination.

Cain earns the same level of support in a matchup with President Obama as he did a week ago. The president picks up 43% of the vote to Cain’s 38%. The latest matchup survey between the two was conducted Sunday and Monday. The sexual harassment allegations against Cain were first reported by The Politico on Sunday night. Support for Cain was a bit softer Monday than they were the day prior. However, it will take time to determine whether the allegations have any lasting impact on his campaign.

The president leads Texas Congressman Ron Paul 44% to 35% in their latest hypothetical Election 2012 matchup.

Romney continues to draw the most support against the president out of all the GOP hopefuls. The two men are essentially tied again this week – Obama 42%, Romney 41% - as they have been since the beginning of the year. Romney also remains the 2012 White House hopeful regarded by voters as closer to the political mainstream than any of the others. Voters are evenly divided on whether Obama, Cain or Gingrich are in the political mainstream but tend to see Texas Governor Rick Perry’s views as extreme.

Don’t miss our latest Senate horse race numbers and the most up-to-date public opinion news on politics, business, the economy, lifestyle issues and more. Rasmussen Reports subscribers can read more than 20 exclusive stories each week. It’s just $3.95 a month or $34.95 a year. Check it out with a three-day free trial subscription. Remember, if it’s in the news, it’s in our polls.

For nearly four months, a generic Republican candidate has led the president in a hypothetical 2012 matchup. A GOP candidate now holds a five-point advantage over the incumbent – 47% to 42% - for the week ending Sunday, October 30.

Rasmussen Reports’ Presidential Tracking Poll monitors daily how voters feel about the president’s job performance. Looking back over all the numbers for October, Obama’s full-month Presidential Approval Index rating fell a point to an all-time low of -22. Aside from the past three months, the president’s approval index rating has stayed between -10 and -17 for the past two years.

Most voters nationwide still favor repeal of the president’s chief legislative accomplishment, the national health care law, but fewer than half of those who already have health insurance think the law will force a change in their coverage.

The president is pushing Congress to pass his plan to give $35 billion to state and local governments to prevent layoffs of teachers and first responders such as firemen, policemen and rescue squad workers. But just 22% of Americans think the federal government should give states and localities $35 billion to prevent such layoffs. Nearly three times as many adults (64%) believe that the best way for state and local governments to avoid these layoffs is to cut back on other spending.

Though 74% of Americans nationwide acknowledge that their state is in a budget crisis, they are evenly divided when it comes to cutting the salaries of state workers. However, a number of state budgets are foundering on the high level of pension benefits owed to unionized public employees, and most Americans would rather see a reduction in those benefits than pay higher taxes to fund them.

Wisconsin’s Scott Walker was one of the first governors to tackle the issue of public employee benefits in a budget-cutting bill he pushed through earlier this year, prompting months of large-scale union-driven protests. But new polling shows voters in Wisconsin have a slightly improved opinion of the Republican governor. Still, his Democratic opponents plan to launch a recall effort later this month.

As for budget-cutting on the national level, voters have very little confidence that the bipartisan congressional super committee will find a way to significantly reduce the federal deficit and believe overwhelmingly that taxes will be raised on the middle class in whatever deal Congress and the president reach.

The president and some congressional Democrats are hoping as part of the deficit-cutting deal to end the so-called Bush tax cuts for the wealthy, defining the wealthy as someone who earns $200,000 a year or a couple that earns $250,000 annually. But just 30% of Americans view someone who makes $250,000 a year as wealthy, down seven points from 37% two-and-a-half years ago. In short, you need to earn more these days for your fellow Americans to regard you as wealthy.

Americans continue to believe they’re overtaxed and that the middle class shoulders a disproportionate share of the tax load. Several Republican presidential hopefuls are proposing major tax reform initiatives, but voters worry about how much money those proposals will generate. Twenty-nine percent (29%) are more concerned that the tax reform proposals will raise too much money for the government, but a plurality (41%) worries more than they won't produce enough revenue. A sizable 30% are undecided.

Regardless of how much money it has, most voters feel the federal government has lost touch with the people it represents. Only 20% think the federal government has the consent of the governed.

Just 18% of Americans now believe the country is better off today than it was five years ago. Only 17% of Likely U.S. Voters think the country is heading in the right direction. Since the third week in July, the number of voters who are confident in the nation’s current course has resembled levels measured in the final months of the Bush administration.

The Rasmussen Employment Index, which measures workers’ perceptions of the labor market each month, slipped two points in October. It’s up just two points from August’s recent low, down five points from the beginning of 2011 and six points from last October.

At week’s end, the Rasmussen Consumer and Investor Indexes, which measure daily confidence among both groups, were down 11 points from the start of the year.

Republicans remain ahead of Democrats on the Generic Congressional Ballot for the week ending Sunday, October 30. The GOP has led on the ballot since July 2009.

The number of Republicans increased by half a percentage point in October, while the number of Democrats decreased by a similar amount. During the month of October, 34.3% of Americans considered themselves to be Republicans, and 33.1% said they were Democrats. For Republicans, the new figure puts their support right in the middle of their monthly numbers for 2011, while for Democrats, the current support is just one-tenth of a percentage point above the lowest level ever recorded in nearly nine years. The number of voters not affiliated with either party was little changed at 32.6% in October.

In other surveys last week:

-- There’s still three weeks to go before Thanksgiving, but nearly one-out-of-four Americans (23%) have already begun their holiday gift shopping.

-- Hank Williams Jr. won’t be singing the opening song for ESPN’s “Monday Night Football” anymore as a result of a comment he made about the president, and some consider him the latest prominent victim of political correctness. Seventy-nine percent (79%) of Americans think political correctness is a serious problem in America today, up five points from a year ago.

-- Most Americans still believe in the need for profiling - the use of factors such as race, ethnicity and overall appearance to determine the subjects of security checks - and feel it should be used to determine who is searched at airports.

-- Most voters expect those who move here to adopt America's culture but still believe U.S. society is fair and decent.

-- There's more commercial emphasis on Halloween than ever but little or no change in the number of adults getting into the spirit of the holiday. Thirty-four percent (34%) of American Adults planned on spending their Halloween passing out candy, while just as many (33%) had no special plans at all. Nineteen percent (19%) said they’d take kids out trick-or-treating.

-- More Americans than ever (31%) say they believe in ghosts.

[Doug64]

So currently, Romney looks like the best Republican candidate for a general election while Cain is leading in the primaries.

Poll after poll shows former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney to be the Republican presidential contender voters are most comfortable with and the GOP hopeful who continues to run most competitively with President Obama. But that's not enough for a lot of Republican voters.

Just this past week, new surveying found that Romney is the GOP candidate viewed most favorably by all voters. This parallels other recent findings that voters see Romney as the GOP hopeful most qualified to be president and the candidate for the White House closest to the mainstream in a group that includes Obama.

The president and Romney remain in a dead heat in their latest hypothetical Election 2012 matchup. Georgia businessman Herman Cain lost ground to Obama this past week, now trailing him 48% to 37%. The week before, Cain trailed 43% to 38%.New numbers will be released for former House Speaker Newt Gingrich on Monday.

Still, Cain remains ahead of Romney among Likely Republican Primary Voters, and new numbers from Florida show him leading the pack with 30% support to Romney's 24% among that state's Likely GOP Primary Voters. Cain also leads Romney among Republicans in Iowa and South Carolina. As he has in other recent polls, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich runs third in Florida with 19% support, while the other candidates are all in single digits.

Gingrich is gaining ground as another anti-Romney favorite while Cain continues to battle the sexual harassment allegations. Most voters (51%) now believe those allegations may be both serious and true, up from 39% a week ago. At the same time, two-thirds believe Cain's ethics are at least as good as most politicians.

Helping Cain among some voters is the belief by 54% that most reporters would publish damaging allegations first and seek to verify the facts later if the story hurts a candidate they don't like. Thirty-four percent (34%) disagree. Most Republicans and unaffiliated voters think reporters would publish the damaging information first, while Democrats are evenly divided.

"Voters have come to view reporters as activists in the political process rather than observers," notes Scott Rasmussen, president of Rasmussen Reports. "Most believe a typical reporter will use different standards based upon whether they like or dislike a candidate."

With continuing questions about his job performance as measured by the Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll, Obama trails a generic Republican candidate again this past week as he has in weekly surveys for nearly four months now. But Rasmussen Reports has begun testing that matchup in some key electoral states and found this past week that Obama trails the generic Republican in Ohio and Florida where most voters disapprove of the job the president is doing. Even in reliably Democratic California, the president's job approval rating has fallen below 50%, and he holds only a modest 45% to 41% lead over a Generic Republican.

Yet again when the GOP candidate has a name, Romney's the only one who poses a consistent challenge to the president among all voters. No state, for example, has supported the winner in more presidential elections than Missouri, and right now Romney is the only Republican presidential hopeful who leads Obama among Show Me State voters. Obama edges Gingrich here 47% to 43%, and Cain trails the incumbent 47% to 39%.

Missouri Democratic Senator Claire McCaskill runs essentially even with two Republican challengers - former State Treasurer Sarah Steelman and Congressman Todd Akin - in the first Rasmussen Reports look at her reelection bid in 2012.

Democrats have far more seats at risk in the next year's Senate elections, and voters remain furious at Congress and the policies the government is pushing. Rasmussen Reports this past week asked Likely U.S. Voters how angry they are at five segments of society regularly in the news, and most voters expressed at least some anger at all of them. But the intensity of that anger was strongest for Congress and the large banks bailed out by the federal government.

Anger at the bailouts is also one of the driving forces behind the Occupy Wall Street protests around the country. However, voters now tend to view the protesters negatively and regard their views as liberal and out of step with mainstream America. They're almost evenly divided over whether the protesters genuinely want to change the system or just want a bailout of their own.

Another of Congress' unpopular recent decisions was the $787 billion economic stimulus plan passed early in 2009. Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said a few days ago that the stimulus plan kept the national unemployment rate from being much worse than it is, but Americans believe overwhelmingly that the stimulus did not reduce unemployment and did not help the economy.

Just seven percent (7%) of consumers now rate the U.S. economy as good or excellent, and only eight percent (8%) of investors agree, according to the Rasmussen Reports Consumer and Investor Indexes which measure daily confidence levels among both groups.

Only 17% of Likely U.S. Voters now say the country is heading in the right direction, down 11 points from this time last year. Since the third week in July, the number of voters who are confident in the nation's current course has resembled levels measured in the final months of the Bush administration.

A plurality (45%) of American workers believes they'll be earning about the same amount of money a year from today. Thirty-six percent (36%) think they'll be earning more, while 12% expect to earn less. These numbers have changed little over recent months, but in April 2009, by contrast, 49% of workers thought they'd be making more money the following year.

Only roughly one-in-three workers (35%) now plan on staying at their current company for more than five years, the lowest level measured since early 2009.

In other surveys last week:

-- Most voters still have a favorable opinion of Medicare but aren't confident that they will get all their promised benefits. However, most also aren't willing to pay more in taxes to make sure those benefits are covered.

-- Republicans continue to lead on the Generic Congressional Ballot as they have in weekly surveys for well over two years now.

-- Fifty-one percent (51%) of voters still believe Obama is more ideologically liberal than they are, a view held by 52% to 61% prior to the latest survey.

-- As the nation marked Veterans Day on Friday, voters nationwide continue to strongly praise the performance of the U.S. military. Eighty-six percent (86%) rate the military's performance as good or excellent, including a majority (58%) who thinks the military is doing an excellent job.

-- Voters still believe the United States is winning the war on terror, and they remain confident the nation is safer today than before the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

-- As the child sexual abuse scandal at Penn State University continues to unfold, most Americans say the school's officials did a poor job handling the initial allegations that eventually led to the grand jury investigation of former assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky.

-- Most Americans continue to think the government is too worried about the concerns of minorities in this country, and support for so-called "hate crime" laws has fallen to its lowest level ever.

-- Americans picked up an extra hour of sleep last weekend, but a lot of them don't think Daylight Saving Time (DST) saves energy as intended.

[Doug64]

For President Obama and congressional Democrats, it was a breakthrough week of sorts. For Republicans, yet another presidential hopeful appears headed for the top. For all of us, it was another week of economic business as usual.

The Rasmussen Consumer and Investor Indexes, which measure daily confidence among both groups, showed slight improvement this week over recent months, but roughly 60% of both groups say the country is still in a recession.

The U.S. Census Bureau has just released figures showing that nearly one-in-five men ages 25 to 34 are now living at home with their parents and that this is having a significant impact on the economy. Eighty-six percent (86%) of Americans believe it is more common for grown children to live with their parents compared to 20 years ago, and 72% say they or someone they know currently has grown children living with them.

Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke insists the Federal Reserve is keeping inflation down, but Americans overwhelmingly say they are paying more for groceries these days and expect to pay even more in a year's time.

For the second straight month, Americans are less confident than ever in the nation’s banking industry. Just 34% are at least somewhat confident in the stability of the U.S. banking industry, including only five percent (5%) who are Very Confident. To put this in context, overall confidence in U.S. banks is now lower than it was in February 2009 in the early days of the bailout era. Prior to the financial industry meltdown in the fall of 2008, 68% expressed confidence in the stability of the U.S. banking system.

Driving financial worries in large part is the continuing depressed state of the housing market, and now government-backed mortgage lenders Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are seeking billions more in taxpayer money to stay afloat. Through these institutions, the federal government has been guaranteeing low-cost subprime mortgages to many who could not qualify for a mortgage without government backing. Their losses on these mortgages now exceed $300 billion.

Americans have a lower opinion than ever of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Just 27% agree with their policies and think the government’s emphasis should be on making it possible for more people to own a home. Sixty-six percent (66%) believe instead that the federal government should be concerned primarily with ensuring that the only people who get a mortgage are those who can afford to pay it back.

Looking across the Atlantic, most Americans still expect at least one of the financially troubled countries in Europe to default on its debt and worry that Europe’s bad economy will ultimately have a major negative impact on the United States.

Only 18% of voters now think the country is heading in the right direction, down eight points from this time last year. Since the third week in July, the number of voters who are confident in the nation’s current course has resembled levels measured in the final months of the Bush administration.

Most Americans are looking for a major reduction in federal government spending as one way to give the economy a boost and remain willing to put everything on the table when it comes to spending cuts including defense. At this point, however, it appears the congressional super committee tasked with coming up with over a trillion dollars in spending cuts is unlikely to meet its Thanksgiving deadline. If they don’t, $1.5 trillion in automatic cuts over the next 10 years are supposed to kick in.

Clearly, in the minds of most voters, Congress remains the problem, not the solution. For the first time in nearly two-and-a-half years, Democrats and Republicans are tied on the Generic Congressional Ballot. Republicans have been leading on the ballot every week since July 2009. But now 41% of Likely U.S. Voters would vote for the Republican in their district’s congressional race if the election was held now, while the identical number (41%) would choose the Democrat instead.

Similarly, President Obama has experienced a slight uptick in his Job Approval rating in recent days as measured by the Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll. After trailing in nearly four months of weekly surveys, the president is also now essentially tied with a generic Republican candidate in a hypothetical Election 2012 matchup. Obama earns his highest level of support in nearly six months.

On the state level, it’s equally competitive, with the president tied with a Generic Republican candidate in Michigan and trailing slightly in Pennsylvania and North Carolina.

The president continues to run better when his Republican opponent has a name, with only former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney consistently neck-and-neck with Obama in national polls. Congresswoman Michele Bachmann and businessman Herman Cain still trail the president by double digits in hypothetical 2012 matchups.

Obama has opened a wider gap over Republican presidential hopeful Newt Gingrich, even as the former House speaker seems to be enjoying a bounce in support among Likely GOP Primary Voters. Gingrich now has jumped to the front of the Republican pack among caucus-goers in Iowa with 32% support, followed by Romney in distant second at 19%. Cain, who led in Iowa last month, drops to third with 13% of the vote.

Several of the Republican candidates are pushing major tax reform plans, and support is strong among voters for replacing the entire income tax code with something simpler with lower rates. Many believe a reformed tax code would help the economy, but a flat tax is not what most voters want to see.

Early this week, the U.S. Supreme Court introduced itself into the election cycle with its decision to review the constitutionality of the president’s signature achievement, the new national health care law. A decision is expected next fall. Voters overwhelming reject the notion that the federal government has the authority to force anyone to buy health insurance. This so-called individual mandate is at the center of the legal controversy. Regardless of its constitutionality, most voters continue to favor repeal of the health care law passed last year by Congress.

As authorized by that law, the president has announced a $1 billion taxpayer-funded jobs plan to increase the health care workforce. The effort in part is intended to counteract the stalemate in Congress over his previous jobs bill proposal. A modest plurality of voters nationwide opposes the health care jobs initiative and most think the president should wait to reach an agreement with Congress before enacting any jobs plan.

Voters continue to frown on government stimulus efforts but remain divided over what role they’d like the government to play in the struggling economy. More voters than ever look back negatively on the government bailouts of banks, auto companies and insurance companies.

In other surveys last week:

-- Voters are strongly convinced that Iran will develop nuclear weapons in the near future and are pessimistic about diplomatic efforts to prevent this from happening. But they're narrowly divided over whether U.S. military force should be used if diplomacy fails to dissuade Iran from its course.

-- Republican Congressman Connie Mack changed his mind late last month about challenging longtime Democratic Senator Bill Nelson in 2012, and now he finds himself with a modest edge over the incumbent in the first Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of Florida’s U.S. Senate race.

-- More Americans than ever say they’ve avoided the doctor’s office because they cannot afford it. Forty-three percent (43%) say they’ve postponed a medical checkup or procedure to save money in the past six months, up six points from March 2009.

-- Most voters continue to believe immigration policy should focus first on border control. At the same time, they also still favor a welcoming immigration policy that excludes only criminals, national security threats and those who come here to live off America’s welfare system.

-- Voters oppose more strongly than ever granting automatic U.S. citizenship to a child born to an illegal immigrant in this country. Now, nearly two-out-of-three Likely U.S. Voters (65%) say if a woman enters the United States as an illegal alien and gives birth to a child here, that child should not automatically become a U.S. citizen.

-- Most voters continue to believe that politics in the nation’s capital will grow even more partisan, although the number is down slightly from earlier in the year.

-- One-out-of-two Americans agree with Penn State’s decision to fire longtime football coach Joe Paterno following the disclosure of child sex abuse allegations against one of his former assistant coaches, but most don’t think the team should be denied a chance to play in a bowl game if it’s eligible.

-- As new disclosures emerge from the scandal at Penn State University, most Americans feel the criminal justice system is not aggressive enough in fighting child sex abuse and think that convicted offenders should be jailed indefinitely if officials feel they might strike again.