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Bernard Madoff, convicted of running an $65 billion Ponzi scheme, was sentenced to 150 years in jail. What’s your take on his punishment?
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The Pew Research Center for the People & the Press is an independent opinion research group that studies attitudes toward the press, politics and public policy issues. The center's purpose is to serve as a forum for ideas on the media and public policy through public opinion research. It is one of six projects that make up the Pew Research Center, a nonpartisan institution that provides information on the issues, attitudes and trends shaping America and the world.
The smoke of one of the toughest primary and caucus seasons in our history is beginning to clear enough to see the outlines of the next battle. Two popular but bloodied candidates of different generations, different races and far different political temperaments will launch campaigns that promise a dramatic new direction for a country viewed with suspicion abroad and beset by pessimism and anxiety at home.
While both parties will spend much of the summer trying to unite and energize the party stalwarts, the real work of presumptive nominees Barack Obama and John McCain will be to win over the political center -- the independent, moderate and undecided voters likely to be the deciding factor in battleground states. And a recent poll by The Pew Research Center for the People & the Press shows that both men have weakened themselves with those groups as they fought to win nomination.
Those same voting groups appear torn and volatile. "In an Obama-McCain matchup, independent voters today are evenly divided, with 44% favoring each candidate," Pew reports. "A month ago, Obama held a sizable 52% to 41% advantage over McCain among independents. But a month before that -- in March -- McCain held a seven-point advantage over Obama (49% to 42%)."
Both candidates have seen negative opinions of them grow. As they have appealed to their own political constituencies, McCain and Obama have been losing popularity chiefly because of their views on issues. But Obama has also seen a growing number of people becoming disenchanted with him because of personal characteristics. However, McCain is facing a distinct and serious disadvantage on key issues. Americans are decidedly more worried about domestic issues than foreign ones, and Obama is seen as handling all but two of those -- taxes and immigration -- better than McCain, generally by large margins. And even on Iraq, national security and foreign policy issues -- long McCain's greatest strength -- the Republican Vietnam War veteran and ex-POW saw his advantage shrink considerably.
POSTED BY: Courtney (June 08, 2008 08:20 PM)
It is frightening that so many Americans are ready to endorse Obama with such minimal information about his stance on issues.
He is Senator from my state, and in his two years of political life, has never voted on ANY issues. He voted "present." Is he qualified to run this country? What are his plans for homeland security? For the economy (all I know is taxing businesses including small, 65%). That also includes any stocks one may own. A sure way to further dive our lapsing economy and MIDDLE CLASS americans into the ground. What does he propose for healthcare? Education? I haven't heard the guy utter one remark about any of these topics.
I hear the masses say he stands for "Change we can believe in" Sounds good, but what does that mean? All you blindly following this dangerous unqualified POLITICIAN should ask yourselves that. You don't even need a college education to be able to answer that.
POSTED BY: Heather Urban (June 16, 2008 04:33 PM)
Courtney, in the eight years of the Illinois Senate, Obama sponsored over 800 bills helping to increase the minimum wage in your state, create job training and offer universal health care, among hundreds of other important topics for your state. If you took the time to read about his policies and his positions on all the issues you mentioned - healthcare, education, homeland security, and the economy - instead of taking the time to criticize him, you'd find the information is out there. He is a superb candidate and the democrats are going to give McCain a hell of a race this fall. And you don't need a college education to know that.
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