It appears the recent revelations about the NSA surveillance programs and President Obama’s less than honest defense of them has done some real damage to his standing with the American people. According to a new CNN poll, Obama’s job approval rating is now negative. Only 45 percent approve of how he is handling his job [...]

If President Obama behavior on the issue of Social Security and his willingness to offer up cuts to Social Security as part of a deficit deal left any doubt about his personal intentions for the program, last night’s debate should put those doubts to bed. One of the most telling moments regarding what Obama’s second [...]

The individual mandate, a requirement in the Affordable Care Act that individuals buy private health insurance or pay a fine, is still very unpopular according to the newest Kaiser Family Foundation poll. According to the poll 63 percent have a somewhat or very unfavorable opinion of the individual mandate, while only 35 percent have a [...]

Trust in the federal government has now reached an all time record low according to CNN’s polling.  The previous low was set back in 1994. From CNN: A CNN/ORC International Poll released Wednesday morning indicates that only 15 percent of Americans say they trust the government in Washington to do what’s right just about always [...]

The law passed last year to provide health care to 9/11 responders will not pay for the treatment of cancer, according to a recent decision by the World Trade Center Health Program. From CNN: Workers who were involved in the response to the World Trade Center attack will not have their cancer treatments compensated under [...]

The cost of private health insurance in America continues to rise at an alarming rate. From CNN Money: American families who are insured through their jobs average health care costs of $19,393 this year, up 7.3%, or $1,319 from last year, according to independent actuarial and health care consulting firm Milliman Inc. The rate increases [...]

Either Sen. Mitch McConnell is a dramatically better negotiator than President Obama or Obama lied about not wanting to extend the tax cuts for the wealthy. McConnell’s superior skills of negotiation appear even more impressive given that he only controls a small minority in the Senate.

In the waning days of the debate over health care legislation, the White House’s political team did a fairly good job of convincing Democrats in Congress, Washington reporters, and like-minded writers that the act would somehow get a lot more popular after it was actually signed into law. The latest CNN poll (PDF) shows that [...]

Time and again, I get sucked in to doing some panel on “the death of journalism” and I wind up saying the same thing: journalism isn’t dying, it’s just changing. Which winds up pissing everyone off, because the room is usually full of dead tree journalists who are either unemployed or scared about losing their [...]

A new NBC/WSJ poll will be released later today that shows support increasing for the public option: According to the poll, 48% say they favor a public health plan administered by the federal government that would compete with private insurers, compared with 42% who oppose it. That’s a shift from last month, though within the [...]