Rasmussen…
What They Told Us: Reviewing Last Week’s Key Polls
Saturday, August 18, 2012 

The vice presidential candidates attracted a little more news than usual this past week. 

After Mitt Romney named Wisconsin Congressman Paul Ryan to be his running mate, Vice President Joe Biden made some high-profile gaffes. New polling finds voters are evenly divided as to which man is better qualified to be president if necessary.   

Mitt Romney announced Ryan as his running mate on Saturday, and following the resulting blast of media exposure, Ryan’s favorables are up. Fifty percent (50%) of Likely U.S. Voters now have a favorable opinion of him, compared to 39% just prior to Romney’s announcement. 

Democrats quickly seized on Ryan’s reputation as a budget hawk in the House of Representative and portrayed his Medicare reform proposal as a threat to seniors. But early state polling suggests that argument isn’t working. In fact, 54% of seniors in Florida fear President Obama’s national health care law more than Ryan’s Medicare proposal. The findings were similar in Wisconsin. 

Following the Ryan announcement, Romney leads the president 45% to 43% in Florida and 48% to 47% in Wisconsin. The two run dead even at 45% apiece in Ohio. But the race has been close in all three states which remain Toss-Ups in the Rasmussen Reports Electoral College Projections.  

Romney’s choice of Ryan, while popular with most Republicans, hasn’t given the Republican hopeful any bounce in the daily Presidential Tracking Poll either. He and Obama continue to run neck-and neck nationally. 

The addition of Ryan to the GOP ticket did nothing to convince voters that the GOP team is serious about cutting spending. If Romney wins, most voters still don’t expect spending to be cut. However, voters believe government spending is more likely to grow further with an Obama victory. 

That highlights the message from Scott Rasmussen’ latest syndicated newspaper column. He points out that reaction to the Ryan pick highlights a gap between Mainstream America and official Washington. “As Campaign 2012 progresses,” he explains, “we'll hear lots of analysis and polling data based on the Washington view of the world. But the election will be decided outside of the nation's capital.” 

Speaking of Scott, look for the new TV show, “What America Thinks, with Scott Rasmussen,” debuting on September 8 on more than 50 stations, headlined by WCBS in New York and KCBS in Los Angeles. (See list of stations here.)  

Control of the Senate is up for grabs, too, and our Senate Balance of Power rankings suggest that it’s going to be close. After a hard-fought primary win on Tuesday, Republican Tommy Thompson now holds a double-digit lead over Democratic Congresswoman Tammy Baldwin in Wisconsin. Despite his impressive win in Tuesday’s state Republican Primary, Congressman Connie Mack trails Democratic incumbent Bill Nelson 47% to 40% in Florida.  GOP challenger Josh Mandel now runs even with incumbent Democratic Senator Sherrod Brown in Ohio.  

Still, Republicans maintain a slight lead on the Generic Congressional Ballot as they have virtually every week since June 2009. Voters now trust Republicans slightly more than Democrats on eight of 10 important issues regularly tracked by Rasmussen Reports, including the most important one:  the economy. 

Most voters think Obama has gotten better treatment from the media than Romney has, and they expect that biased coverage to continue. Fifty-one percent (51%) think looking ahead to the fall campaign that most reporters will try to help the president, while only nine percent (9%) feel they will try to help Romney. Just one-in-five voters (22%) believes most reporters will try to offer unbiased coverage. 

But more important than what happens on the campaign trail and what is reported in the media is what’s happening in the economy, Scott Rasmussen explains in a new radio update. Listen to Scott’s radio updates three times daily Monday through Friday on a radio station in your area, courtesy of the WOR Radio Network. 

Investor and consumer confidence as measured by the Rasmussen Consumer and Investor Indexes continues to stumble along.  

The number of Americans who are confident in the U.S. banking system remains below 50%. At a time when most Americans report they’re paying more for groceries compared to last year, confidence in the Federal Reserve Board’s ability to keep inflation under control has fallen to a new low for 2012. 

A new report this past week confirms that the government is sure to lose money on the auto bailouts. While most voters continue to oppose the bailout of the financial sector, they’ve begun to look a bit more favorably on the auto bailouts, incorrectly believing that the government will break even on them. However, once they’re told that the government will lose money on the bailouts of General Motors and Chrysler, most voters express a negative view of them. 

Most voters still want to see the president’s health care law repealed, and a plurality believes repeal would be good for the economy. 

One potential area of relief is the extension of the so-called Bush tax cuts, something that voters strongly support. But only 43% think it’s even somewhat likely that Congress and the president will reach an agreement to extend the Bush tax cuts by year’s end. Slightly more (46%) think such an extension is unlikely. 

Interestingly, while most Americans believe the nation is overtaxed, they dramatically underestimate the actual level of taxes paid. 

Check the links and read the rest of the article at Rasmussen