Free Republic

The foundations of economic freedom have been declining around the world for three consecutive years, according to the 2024 Index of Economic Freedom, which annually assesses the economic governance and entrepreneurial environments of 184 countries. Despite the disappointing downward trend of global economic freedom, the overall findings of the 2024 index, released Monday by The Heritage Foundation, are unmistakable: Preserving and further enhancing the institutions of economic freedom is the key to economic empowerment and societal flourishing. (The Daily Signal is the news outlet of The Heritage Foundation.) In its 30th anniversary edition, the 2024 index provides a unique opportunity...

Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY), 81, earned the lowest overall rating of any lawmaker in Congress, dropping six points in one year to a mere 6% approval, a Monmouth University poll recently found. Under McConnell’s Senate leadership, the national debt has soared more than $30 trillion ($101,196 per American), illegal immigration has continued, real wages for American workers have remained stagnant, Obamacare was enacted in 2010, big banks were bailed out in 2008, and social media companies have silenced individuals without repercussions. Dr. Anthony Fauci remains unaccountable for allegedly twice lying to Congress.

President Biden’s job approval rating has plunged to a measly 33%, according to a Pew Research Center poll released Thursday The dismal rating is the lowest that Pew Research has measured since Biden, 81, took office and represents a 2 point drop since the organization’s last approval survey in June. The president’s approval rating among registered Republicans and those that lean Republican stayed level at 7%, while his support among Democrats tumbled 4 points from June, to 61%. The pollster notes that Biden’s job rating among Democrats has fallen 12 points since October 2022 and is “relatively low among most...

URBANDALE, Iowa — Longshot Republican presidential candidate Doug Burgum insists he’s staying in the 2024 race at least long enough to “beat expectations” in January’s Iowa caucuses — a goal which he joked should be easy to meet, since he has “the lowest expectations.” The billionaire North Dakota governor failed to qualify for the third RNC debate earlier this month, is unlikely to make the stage for the next debate Dec. 6 in Alabama, and is averaging just 2.7% support in the Hawkeye State, according to RealClearPolitics — a mere 44.3 percentage points behind former President Donald Trump. So what,...

The national average of gas prices could drop to the lowest level around Thanksgiving in years, according to new estimates. On Monday, AAA reported the average national price of gas was about $3.31 per gallon — nearly a 10 percent decrease from last year’s average of $3.67 per gallon during the same period. The national average for gas prices has fallen or remained flat for about 60 consecutive days, according to a AAA press release last week.

U.S. President Joe Biden’s public approval rating was stuck at 40 percent in early July, close to the lowest levels of his presidency, defying White House efforts to further engage voter support. A Reuters/Ipsos poll delivered the bad news for the president as he looks to another run for office in 2024, telling Turkish President Recep Erdogan overnight he would win re-election next year and would be working with him for the next five years, as Breitbart News reported. The three-day online poll, which asked Americans, “Do you approve or disapprove of the way Joe Biden is handling his job...

American support for the Black Lives Matter movement has reached its lowest point since 2020, according to a poll released Wednesday. The Pew Research Center survey found about 51 percent of U.S. adults support the Black Lives Matter movement, a full six-point drop from last year when 56 percent supported it. Per The Hill: Two-thirds of U.S. adults said they supported the movement following Floyd’s death in 2020, according to a Pew analysis of the 5,073-person survey. Opinions on the movement vary by race, age and political leaning.

falling by 2 percentage points in 10 years’ time, according to Census Bureau data released Thursday. Slightly more than 80 million out of 126.8 million occupied housing units across the country were inhabited by homeowners in 2020, putting the nation’s homeownership rate at 63.1 percent. This is the lowest homeownership rate since 1970. West Virginia and Maine had the highest 2020 homeownership rates at 72.6 percent and 71 percent, respectively. But each of these states experienced a decline from the 2010 Census figures.

Consumer prices rose 0.4 percent in April to hit an annual increase of 4.9 percent, according to inflation data released Wednesday by the Labor Department. That’s the lowest annual inflation rate since April 2021. The consumer price index (CPI), which measures everything consumers spend money on from rent to gasoline, showed inflation accelerating slightly in April, in line with expectations but falling on an annual basis. Economists had been expecting prices to accelerate by 0.4 percent in April, up from 0.1 percent in March, and projected annual inflation to hold steady at a 5 percent.

President Joe Biden’s approval rating is down to the lowest in his presidency, at only 32 percent approval and 57 percent disapproval, according to the CIVIQS rolling job-approval average as of Saturday. While 11 percent of survey participants did not approve or disapprove, Biden’s approval rating is underwater in 48 states, including the typically dark blue California and his home state of Delaware. The only two states in which he is above water are Hawaii and Vermont.

President Biden’s approval numbers remain stuck at near-record lows as he faces a series of setbacks, according to a new poll. The latest Gallup survey released Friday finds that roughly 41 percent of U.S. adults approve of the job Biden is doing just over a year into office, about the same as previous surveys showing him underwater among the public.

President Biden’s popularity dropped to its lowest point yet in a CBS News/YouGov poll out Sunday — with just 42% of Americans approving of Biden’s performance while 58 percent disapprove. Biden’s approval rating is low across the board, including among demographic groups that generally support Democrats, including racial minorities and young people.

Florida, which came under a constant wave of scrutiny from blue state leaders and the establishment media throughout the Chinese coronavirus pandemic, is reporting the lowest coronavirus cases per capita in the nation as other states are experiencing significant surges.

The coronavirus pandemic continues to recede in America — as the average number of new cases and deaths plummeted to levels not seen in around a year. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported Sunday that the rolling seven-day average of daily new coronavirus cases had dropped to 24,315 nationwide. The last time the average was that low was on June 15 of last year, when the CDC reported a seven-day average of 23,304 new cases.

The Ohio Department of Health reported 384 new cases of COVID-19 Sunday, a dip from the 681 newly reported cases on Saturday. Sunday's daily cases showed the lowest increase since April 27.

President Barack Obama’s job-approval rating slumped to the lowest point of any time that Quinnipiac University has surveyed during his presidency, the university said Tuesday. By a 54%-to-39% margin, people disapprove of Obama. The results compare to a slight 49%-45% disapproval on Oct. 1.

Even lower that than Obama’s idol, Jimmah Carta. Via Gallup: The three presidents since World War II who were not re-elected — Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, and George H.W. Bush — all had job approval ratings below 50% in the last Gallup measure before the election took place. Five presidents who won re-election — Dwight Eisenhower, Lyndon Johnson, Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan, and Bill Clinton — all had job approval ratings above 50% in the last Gallup poll before the election. Two presidents were re-elected with sub-50% approval ratings. George W. Bush had 48% approval in October 2004 among national...

President Barack Obama faces a litany of bad news. The president’s job approval rating, his favorability, and his rating on the economy have hit all-time lows. To compound matters, three in four Americans still believe the nation is in a recession and the proportion who thinks the country is moving in the wrong direction is at its highest point in more than a decade. President Barack Obama According to this McClatchy-Marist Poll, the president’s approval rating is at 39% among registered voters nationally, an all-time low for Mr. Obama. For the first time a majority — 52% — disapproves of...

Consumer sentiment inched up in early September, but Americans remained gloomy about the future with a gauge of expectations falling to the lowest level since 1980, a survey released Friday showed. Getty Images The Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan's preliminary reading on the overall index on consumer sentiment edged up to 57.8 from 55.7 the month before, which had been the lowest level since November 2008. It topped the median forecast of 56.5 among economists polled by Reuters. "Overall, the data indicate that a renewed downturn in consumer spending is as likely as not in the year ahead," survey director Richard...

America is waking up from its dream. Dan Balz and Jon Cohen of the WaPo write: Public confidence in President Obama has hit a new low, according to the latest Washington Post-ABC News poll. Four months before midterm elections that will define the second half of his term, nearly six in 10 voters say they lack faith in the president to make the right decisions for the country, and a clear majority once again disapproves of how he is dealing with the economy. Regard for Obama is still higher than it is for members of Congress, but the gap has...