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Do you know more about the news than the average American? Test your knowledge of prominent people and major events in the news, by taking our short 13-question quiz. Then see how you did in comparison with 1,041 randomly sampled adults asked the same questions in a national survey conducted online Jan. 18-24 by the Pew Research Center. The new survey includes a mixture of multiple-choice questions using photographs, maps and symbols. When you finish, you will be able to compare your News IQ with the average American, as well as with the scores of college graduates and those who...

Obama had it easy when he came into office in terms of repudiating his predecessor's ideas, but he had much bigger ambitions than that. He has dedicated much of his rhetorical firepower to debunking the message of the Reagan presidency -- that government is too big, and that big government often creates bigger problems than it solves. And if he wins over young supporters to such a philosophy, he will have created a generation of believers in a more robust federal government, who, like those who came of age in the Reagan era, will age and to some degree retain...

Have a picnic or cookout, Give Dad a nice present, Take Dad out for a meal, Go to a game or a movie...

Most Americans find it unacceptable for the National Security Agency to collect the phone records of millions of U.S. citizens. In addition, a majority lacks trust in the federal government, and an increasing number of people say it’s too big. These are just some of the findings of a Fox News poll released Wednesday. Sixty-two percent of voters say the government secretly collecting the phone records of millions of Americans is an “unacceptable and alarming invasion of privacy rights.” That’s nearly twice as many as think it’s an “acceptable government action to help prevent terrorism” (32 percent). Republicans (by 74-18...

http://www.bet.com/news/global/2013/06/12/poll-should-alicia-keys-perform-in-isreal.results.rightpoll.html#rightpoll Poll: Should Alicia Keys Perform in Israel? A petition with over 10,000 signatures is calling on the singer to cancel the concert and "stand on the side of justice." By Patrice Peck Posted: 06/12/2013 02:31 PM EDT Filed Under Palestine, Alice Walker, Global News, Israel, Alicia Keys, Music News, Palestinian To protest an upcoming Alicia Keys concert in Tel Aviv, a delegation of Palestinian-Americans recently delivered a petition with 12,000 signatures to the New York City office of Keys' Keep a Child Alive non-profit organization. "We ask Alicia Keys to stand on the side of justice," read the Change.org...

Should the government's phone and Internet surveillance program continue? No, dismantle the whole thing and start over. This is a blunt invasion of privacy Yes, it's the price we pay for security It should continue, but with more oversight and a bit less intrusion

A large majority of Americans say the federal government should focus on investigating possible terrorist threats even if personal privacy is compromised, and most support the blanket tracking of telephone records in an effort to uncover terrorist activity, according to a new Washington Post-Pew Research Center poll. Fully 45 percent of all Americans say the government should be able to go further than it is, saying that it should be able to monitor everyone’s online activity if doing so would prevent terrorist attacks. A slender majority, 52 percent, say no such broad-based monitoring should occur. The new survey comes amid...

Was ex-CIA employee Edward Snowden right to leak documents exposing the government's secret surveillance program? Yes, he made the right move No, he's a traitor The government surveillance doesn't bother me

Iiiinteresting. Another week, a second poll suggesting that former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s general approval rating is indeed taking a hit amidst the furor over the investigation into the Benghazi scandal. Allahpundit broke down the Quinippiac poll last week in which Clinton’s approval rating came in at 52 percent — a full 9-point drop since February — and a new Bloomberg poll out today takes her down a 12-point peg from her score in December. I must say, you gotta’ love the Bloomberg lead-in: Hillary Clinton hasn’t decided whether she’ll run for president in 2016, a status that doesn’t...

Thursday's Poll Do you think the TSA should allow small knives on airplanes? Yes No

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) said, "Right now I think everyone should just calm down." Easy for him to say.

The scandals that have broadsided the Obama administration in recent weeks have the potential for leaving a gaping hole in the president's standing with the American people, according to a new Investors Business Daily/TIPP poll. Overall, more Americans still approve (48%) than disapprove (44%) of the job President Obama is doing — a 3 percentage-point improvement over approval readings in the last two months. But the reverse is true among those who are following the administration's handling of the Benghazi crisis, the IRS' targeting of the Tea Party and other groups, and the Justice Department's seizure and pursuit of the...

ROCHESTER, N.Y., June 1 (UPI) -- Only a third of U.S. adults say they are very happy -- minorities show particularly pronounced declines in the past two years, a U.S. survey indicates. A Harris Poll of 2,345 U.S. adults surveyed online April 10-15 by Harris Interactive found certain groups, such as minorities, recent graduates and the disabled, trended downward in the last couple of years.

Do you think student loans should be forgiven, especially if a student makes a good-faith effort to repay them, but can't find work in their field?Local paper in Klamath Falls, Oregon

Why didn't the IRS answer the Northeast Tarrant Texas Tea Party? The IRS is legitimately overwhelmed with IRS business The IRS is dissing them

What do you think of the Calif. bill that would allow non-citizens to serve on juries? It's only sensible to widen the jury pool to include people who've lived here for many years It makes a mockery of the law, citizenship and due process Vote

Majorities of American voters say their family will be worse off under the Affordable Care Act, and think it would be better to go back to the pre-ObamaCare health care system. A Fox News poll released Wednesday finds that while 26 percent of voters say their health care situation will be better under the new law, twice as many -- 53 percent -- say it will be worse. Another 13 percent say it won’t make a difference. Almost all Republicans (85 percent) and just over half of independents (51 percent) say they will be worse off under ObamaCare. Nearly half...

[SNIP] Here are top line numbers from the Washington Post poll that should worry Mr. Obama and his team: Q: Changing topics, in general do you think the federal government is doing more to (protect) the rights of average Americans or more to (threaten) the rights of average Americans? 54% - threaten. 38% - protect. The Washington Post didn't ask "threaten" respondents if they connect their fears to the president. With more to come from the IRS scandal -- and with links to the White House probable -- the majority feeling threatened by government will grow. Q: Republicans in Congress...

After a week of revelations about government spying on reporters and the Internal Revenue Service targeting conservatives, most voters feel “like the federal government has gotten out of control and is threatening the basic civil liberties of Americans.” At the same time, a new Fox News poll finds disapproval of President Obama’s job performance is above 50 percent for the first time in a year, his honesty rating is at a new low and half of voters already think he’s a lame-duck. More than two-thirds of voters -- 68 percent -- feel the government is out of control and threatening...

Now that one Pennsylvania university has decided to allow guns on its grounds -- in limited circumstances -- it's possible that other schools may follow suit. Penn State does not allow students to possess any type of weapons on campus. But supporters of the "concealed carry" concept think it's an idea whose time has come. Kutztown University, one of the 14 state-owned universities in Pennsylvania, recently decided that students may carry guns in some instances. According to Kutztown University President F. Javier Cevallos, attorneys advised the school that, "a blanket prohibition against the possession of weapons on campus is legally...

Washington (CNN) – President Barack Obama comes out of what was arguably the worst week of his presidency with his approval rating holding steady, according to a new national poll. But a CNN/ORC International survey released Sunday morning also indicates that congressional Republicans are not overplaying their hand when it comes to their reaction to the three controversies that have consumed the nation's capital over the past week and a half. And the poll finds that a majority of Americans take all three issues seriously. According to the survey, which was conducted Friday and Saturday, 53% of Americans say they...

Already at 54% - Yes @ http://www.kfiam640.com/main.html

A recently released poll from The Washington Post indicates that a Bible Belt state may be moving toward majority support for same-sex marriage. According to the results, which were published on the newspaper's website Tuesday, 56 percent of Virginians polled stated that they believe gay couples should be allowed to marry; 33 percent said no and 10 percent held no opinion. This was an increase from two years earlier, when 46 percent of Virginians said yes to legalized same-sex marriage, 43 percent stated opposition, and 11 percent held no opinion. Based on 1,000 telephone interviews conducted from April 29 to...

Thursday's Poll Do you trust the federal government? Yes No

Wednesday's Poll Do you blame President Barack Obama for the current IRS scandal? Yes No

O.J. Simpson returned to court Monday. The former football star, who was acquitted in the murder of his ex-wife Nicole and her friend Ron Goldman, is hoping a judge will grant him a new trial in his 2008 armed robbery and kidnapping conviction. Simpson, now 65, has served four years of a nine-to-33-year sentence and is eligible for parole when he's 70. Would you support parole for O.J.? Never. He belongs in prison. Not sure. Yes. 9 years for this particular crime is enough.

A new NBC/Marist poll on Virginia’s gubernatorial race — a.k.a., the only competitive governor’s race in the country in 2013 — released this morning has some slightly different findings than the WaPo poll from last weekend, which had Republican candidate Ken Cuccinelli edging Democrat Terry McAuliffe with a five-point lead among Virginia voters; the NBC poll has McAuliffe beating Cuccinelli by a within-the-margin-of-error 43 to 41 percent among registered voters. Cuccinelli, however, has some very distinct advantages going for him — Virginia voters are more familiar with the state attorney general than they are the former DNC chairman, as well...

Is Benghazi worth continuing to investigate? No, this happened months ago and there have been a series of inquiries. Let's move on Yes. Until every witness has had a chance to speak Only if there is clear evidence of wrongdoing by high-level officials

A friend of mine sent this survey to me over the weekend. It is one of the most comprehensive surveys I've seen since the gun control issue boiled over late last year.It is fascinating reading on how police officers and other law enforcement personnel feel about these issues. PoliceOne is an online resource for the law enforcement community with 450,000 members.Here is a link to the PoliceOne.com site and the survey page. Here is a link to how the survey was conducted.Reprinted with permission of Doug Wyllie, PoliceOne Editor in Chief.In March, PoliceOne conducted the survey of American law enforcement...

Thursday's Poll Do you support gun-control legislation? Yes No

No, the administration knows it can't intimidate whistle-blowers Perhaps by their supervisors, but the top-level officials would not have sanctioned that Yes, and the intimidation is coming from the top down

A majority of voters disapprove of President Barack Obama’s handling of gun control, according to a poll released Wednesday. The Quinnipiac Poll of 1,471 registered voters showed that 52 percent are unhappy with Obama’s approach to gun control, which focuses on an expanded background-check system for purchasers. The results contrast with a survey released Monday by the liberal-leaning polling firm Public Policy Polling that claimed there was “overwhelming, bipartisan support of background checks” among voters, based on results showing that five senators — four Republicans and one Democrat — have seen their approval ratings plummet in their states after they...

Tuesday's Poll Do you care about the sexual orientation of your favorite athlete? Yes No

Should Connecticut Grant Driver’s Licenses To Undocumented Immigrants?

Those of us who pay attention, who are not doing the zombie shuffle through life, take polling results with more than a grain of salt. But, I found the results of a couple of post-Boston bombing, small-sample polls conducted by Fox News and the Washington Post to be interesting for what they say about our perception of the federal government. On Sunday, WorldNetDaily’s Drew Zahn wrote a report in which he stated: According to a pair of recent polls, for the first time since the 9/11 terrorist hijackings, Americans are more fearful their government will abuse constitutional liberties than fail...

I have previously noted my skepticism of claims that there were overwhelming support for the Senate gun control bill that was voted down about 10 days ago. Well, now there is another poll by the PEW Research Center that I think is much more accurate. It asks people whether they are happy that the Senate gun control bill was stopped. Apparently, both Republicans and Independents are generally happy that it was stopped. My guess is that Republicans should pay a lot more attention to what Independents and Republicans wanted than Democrats who wouldn't never have voted for the Republicans...

Do you wish George W. Bush was still the president? Yes No

After senators filibustered a gun background checks bill, President Obama gave an angry speech, promising that "we can still bring about meaningful changes that reduce gun violence so long as the American people don't give up on it." But according to a new Washington Post/ Pew Research Center poll, the American people are kind of over it. Less than a majority -- 47 percent -- say they are "angry" or "disappointed" that gun legislation failed to pass after the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in Newtown, Conn. That is a lot less than the frequently-cited 90 percent who supported the substance...

The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Wednesday shows that 48% of Likely U.S. Voters approve of President Obama's job performance. Fifty-one percent (51%) now disapprove. Today’s figures include 24% who Strongly Approve of the way Obama is performing as president and 39% who Strongly Disapprove. This gives him a Presidential Approval Index rating of -15 (see trends).

Barack Obama might be employing “the audacity of mope� after the failure of his gun-control initiative, but he’s mostly alone. According to a new poll from the Washington Post and Pew, there is no rising tide of outrage over the failure to pass any kind of gun-control legislation this month. In fact, there are about as many people delighted over it as angry, especially among those who actually cared enough to pay close attention to the debate: The Senate’s defeat of a package of popular proposals aimed at curbing gun violence last week seemed certain to foment public outrage at...

Question of the Day The FBI reportedly interviewed Tamerlan Tsarnaeva two years ago. If true, will most Americans hold President Obama responsible? Yes No Undecided Other

The Establishment is very concerned this morning that the representatives of the people have resisted demands for stricter gun control measures. The president calls it “shameful.” The New York Times editorial board intones, “The Senate Fails America.” Dana Milbank of the Washington Post deplores a lack of “courage” on Capitol Hill, though some might think it takes courage to defy the overwhelming drumbeat of the national media. Whatever the merits and popularity of the specific measures that went down to defeat in the Senate on Wednesday, I think the Establishment fails to appreciate the depth of American support for the...

Tuesday's Poll Has the Boston explosion made you more fearful of attending public events? Yes No

Blogworthy not just because it complements the Gosnell coverage but because this old post kicked off two days of arguments in the comments about whether Americans really were becoming more pro-abortion over time. That trend fit with various other trends towards social liberalization, starting with gay marriage, and with post-election claims that the long-touted Democratic realignment had arrived.False alarm:Good news and bad news there for pro-lifers. The bad news: The new numbers are in line with most of the other data over the last 10 years. Americans aren’t becoming more pro-choice but they’re not really becoming more pro-life either. (If...

UPDATED | Former U.S. Rep. Anthony Weiner is weighing a run for mayor of New York City, an effort that would mark an attempt to return to public life two years after he resigned in a scandal over sexually explicit messages sent to young women. An interview published Wednesday by the New York Times Magazine marked the first time Mr. Weiner has spoken at length about what led him to exchange lewd messages and photos with women he met online, the impact the scandal had on his wife and his political ambitions. “At breakfast,” the Times article says, “Weiner quickly...

Although the President likes to place police officers as a backdrop while speaking on his gun control proposals, a new poll clearly shows that by an overwhelming margin that police disagree with President Obama’s Gun Control proposals PoliceOne.com released the findings from last month’s Gun Policy & Law Enforcement survey, that shows without a doubt most cops believe that Obama’s gun control polices will NOT work in practice.

According to a new poll, 59 percent of Michigan adults believe the new right-to-work law will either help Michigan's economy or have no impact on it. But the survey wasn't interpreted like that when the press release for Michigan State University’s State of the State Survey (SOSS) was released Thursday, the same day that state's right-to-work law officially took effect. Instead, the theme was that the right-to-work law "sharply divided" the state. The survey asked respondents to speculate whether the new law would hurt or help the economy. Roughly two out of five, 42.7 percent, of those surveyed said they...

President Obama’s handling of gay issues is the only policy area in which a majority of voters support his efforts, according to a new poll. The CNN/ORC poll released Monday showed that 52 percent of Americans approve of Mr. Obama’s policies toward gays and lesbians, while 42 percent disapprove. That’s his highest rating on any topic in the survey. On foreign affairs, 49 percent approve (with 41 percent characterizing North Korea as an immediate threat to the U.S., an all-time high for that question).

Saturday's Poll Do you have confidence in the economic recovery? Yes No

Should the judge jail Winter if she declines to reveal her sources? Yes, jail time is appropriate. No, she committed no crime. I'm not sure.