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Rasmussen
What
They Told Us: Reviewing Last
Week’s Key Polls
Saturday, June 01, 2013
Health
care and housing are hotter
topics for many Americans these days than the growing controversies
surrounding
the Obama administration.
Amid
increasing news reports of
potential big insurance rate hikes, Scott Rasmussen’s latest weekly
newspaper
column contends that consumers are set to repeal a large part of
President
Obama’s health care law. “Advocates of the plan dramatically misread
the public
mood. Only 28% of voters believe the top priority should be
guaranteeing
comprehensive insurance coverage for all workers. Sixty-six percent
(66%) think
it's more important to let workers pick their own mix of insurance
coverage and
take-home pay.
If
they had the choice, 59% would
opt for less expensive insurance and a bigger paycheck.
As
the countdown continues to full
implementation of the health care law next year, voters are still
evenly
divided over whether they want their governor to help make the law a
reality in
their state.
On
the housing front, 60% now say
their home is worth more than what they owe on their mortgage. That
matches the
most upbeat assessment since the Wall Street meltdown in 2008.
Thirty-five
percent (35%) think their house’s value will go up over the next year,
a huge
improvement from over a year ago.
Thirty-three
percent (33%) of
Americans say now is a good time for someone to sell a house where they
live.
That, too, is a four-year high.
More
Americans than ever (70%) also
believe that homeowners who can’t afford their mortgage payments should
downsize rather than receive assistance from the government.
At
the same time, the Rasmussen
Consumer and Investor Indexes which measure daily confidence continue
to run at
or near their highest levels since before the Wall Street collapse in
2008.
But
most voters don’t approve of
the Justice Department’s investigation of news reporters, and a
plurality (42%)
now thinks the department’s boss, Attorney General Eric Holder, should
resign.
The
positive economic news may help
explain why the president’s overall job approval ratings haven’t
suffered
despite the continuing media focus on the Internal Revenue Service,
Justice
Department and Benghazi controversies.
Still,
just 37% of voters rate
Obama’s handling of economic issues as good or excellent, while 45%
view his
performance in this area as poor. Meanwhile, views of the president’s
handling
of national security issues have slipped to levels not seen since
before the
killing of Osama bin Laden two years ago. Just 40% now give the
president good
or excellent ratings for his handling of national security, while 39%
rate his
performance as poor.
The
president made headlines
recently with a national security speech promising to close the prison
camp for
terrorists at the Guantanamo Naval Base in Cuba and to restrict the
government’s use of armed drones. Voters are closely divided over
whether the
Guantanamo prison should be closed, and just 27% agree with bringing
some of
those inmates to the United States to make closing the camp possible.
Voters
are now more supportive of
using unmanned drones to kill U.S. citizens overseas who pose a
terrorist
threat. A surprising 36% favor their use against terrorist threats in
this
country.
Democrats’
efforts to strengthen
gun control laws also may not have had the political impact they’d
hoped for:
Voters now trust Republicans more than the president’s party on the gun
control
issue. Just 41%
trust Democrats more. In
March, Democrats had a five point advantage on the issue.
The
U.S. Supreme Court is expected
to rule soon on a lawsuit challenging the University of Texas’ use of
race as a
factor in admissions. Just
25% of
Americans favor such a policy. That’s consistent with a larger
perspective that
students should be judged on their own merits. Just 30% believe it is
okay for
schools to give preferences to the children of donors.
Only
23% believe that, in reality,
elite schools only accept the most qualified students. Seventy-one
percent (71%)
believe that accepting only the most qualified students for admission
is better
than giving preference to alumni families.
Most
voters don't believe they are
getting a good return on current education spending, and just 34% think
more
money will enhance student performance.
Voters
generally believe tax
increases hurt the economy, but they’re still slightly more inclined to
vote
for a candidate who would raise taxes only on the wealthy over one who
would
oppose all tax increases.
Democrats
have regained the lead on
the Generic Congressional Ballot. For the last six weeks, the gap
between the
two parties has been two points or less...
Read
the rest of the article at
Rasmussen
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