danivon wrote:Isn't there a whole thread and national debate about a situation where Obama is trying to set up an agency to regulate for the benefit of consumers and Congress is doing all it can to do nothing to help set it up (even though it was established by a legislative act and they could simply disestablish it using one)?.

Archduke Russell John wrote:

Guapo wrote:

Archduke Russell John wrote:Ron Paul won't break 10% in the Iowa caucuses.

Yep, I was wrong about that. But then again, your claims that he was going to win by a landslide are also

Further, I would say a 3rd place finish is a loss for Paul, considering how high he was in the polls.

Of course the thing I like about the Iowa caucus is that it kind of proves what I was saying. Total attendence was about 120,000 or the same as 2008. However, registered Republican attendence was down and Independents & registered Democrats attendence was up. I think New Hampshire Independents will vote for Huntsman. Much for the same reason Santorum did so well in Iowa. He has been in the state so long. He has had 150 campaign events which is more then any other candidate. Also, Gingrinch is going to go nuclear on Romney that combined with what can only be seen as a loss in Iowa are going to hurt Romney.

Guapo wrote:

Archduke Russell John wrote:

Guapo wrote:Everyone has low percentages, except for Huckabee--and he's gone. In reality, only 19 and 21 are accurate scenarios, and Ron Paul is tied for second in 19, and in third in 21. Looks to me like Ron is doing just fine.

You are correct. However, there are some candidates missing from those questions. Huntsman, Cain, Johnson, and Santorum are not included in any of those questions. So you are making the assumption that Paul will pick up all of the undecideds and a majority of the Huckabee supports without losing any of his own supports to the candidates not named. I think that is a stretch. After all let's look at the 2007/2008. He was polling in the low 9%'s in 2007. Five months later, when a number of candidates had dropped out and the undecideds made up their minds, he picked up less then 1 point.

This seems to indicate that he will not do much better then the approx. 10% he is pulling in your referenced poll.

Russ, Ron is polling at 15-16% in the questions that are relevant to the current situation (19/21). He doesn't need to pick up all the undecideds, or even most of them. 30% wins you Iowa. 20% gets you 2nd or 3rd. Your arithmetic is way off.

Also, I'm not guaranteeing that Ron will win Iowa, though I think he could. I'm saying that he's going to be in one of the top 3, and that he will beat Huntsman. He might lose to Romney, but I don't think Romney will do as well as the prognosticators say because of Romneycare. Did you notice the question about that? That question was specifically designed for Romney.

I'd like to see an updated poll post-debate. I can't find one, so this is all we have to go on.

Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas, run neck-and-neck with President Obama in a general-election matchup, according to a new CBS News poll released late on Monday that shows the two front-runners in Tuesday's New Hampshire GOP primary running stronger against the president than their fellow Republicans.

Romney posts a two-point lead over Obama, 47 percent to 45 percent, within the poll's margin of error of plus or minus 2.8 percentage points. He leads Obama, 45 percent to 39 percent, among independent voters.

Obama's lead over Paul is just one point, 46 percent to 45 percent, as Paul leads among independents by 7 points.

When it comes to how Americans view President Obama going into the new year, there appears to be very little spirit of Auld Lang Syne. Instead, according to the new Washington Whispers poll, many voters aren't forgetting what they dislike about Obama and want him out office.

In our New Year's poll, when asked what news event they fear most about 2012, Americans by a margin of two-to-one said Obama's reelection. Only 16 percent said they fear the Democrat won't win a second term, while 33 percent said they fear four more years. [Check out the top political events of 2011]

ePollster John Zogby updates our weekly Obama Report Card with a grade on the president's performance. Zogby uses his polling, expert analysis and interaction with major players to come up with a grade and some comments that capture how he sees the president's week ending.
John Zogby on Week: 154
"With Republicans in full retreat on extending the payroll tax cut and his approval rating in some polls on the positive side for the first time in months, President Obama enters the New Year in much better shape than might have been predicted just a few months ago

rickyp wrote:yes. Very scientific polls.
BTW Do you actually read in complete anything you cut and paste?
from the first link in the blog you quoted:

ePollster John Zogby updates our weekly Obama Report Card with a grade on the president's performance. Zogby uses his polling, expert analysis and interaction with major players to come up with a grade and some comments that capture how he sees the president's week ending.
John Zogby on Week: 154
"With Republicans in full retreat on extending the payroll tax cut and his approval rating in some polls on the positive side for the first time in months, President Obama enters the New Year in much better shape than might have been predicted just a few months ago

Doctor Fate wrote:Please stop with the "Republicans can't win" garbage.

Sassenach wrote:Just a very quick sidetrack from this 'fascinating' discussion of polling methodologies...

I noticed that a lot of the exit polls from NH wards are showing Obama as getting a lot of votes. Am I to take it from this that the Dems are still holding a primary (presumably at public expense) despite the fact that Obama is unopposed ? Seems a pretty strange thing to do.

Sassenach wrote:I noticed that a lot of the exit polls from NH wards are showing Obama as getting a lot of votes. Am I to take it from this that the Dems are still holding a primary (presumably at public expense) despite the fact that Obama is unopposed ? Seems a pretty strange thing to do.

Incident:The first lady and daughter Sasha took a five-day trip to southern Spain, shopping, visiting coastal towns and lunching with the nation’s king and queen.

Criticism:Mrs. Obama and her daughter stayed at a five-star coastal resort where rooms run from $400 to almost $7,000 per night and the first lady was photographed wearing an off-the-shoulder top from pricey designer Jean Paul Gaultier, causing critics to blast the seeming show of extravagance during a period of 9.5 percent unemployment.

Infuriating fact: While the Obamas paid their own way for the trip, American taxpayers picked up the estimated $250,000 security tab.

Infuriating fact II:The White House had dubbed it “Recovery Summer.” D’oh!

Mitigating fact:Mrs. Obama reportedly went to Spain to comfort a friend whose father had recently died and whose daughter, a friend of Sasha‘s, always had wanted to celebrate her birthday in the country.

Quotable: New York Daily News writer Andrea Tantaros labeled Mrs. Obama “more like a modern-day Marie Antoinette than an average mother of two” and noted that “the trip and glitzy destination contrasted with President Obama’s demonization of the rich that smacks of hypocrisy.” . . .

Incident:Mr. and Mrs. Obama jetted up to New York City for a “date night” - dinner and a Broadway play - in May, 2009. . . .

Incident:In May of last year, the Obamas held a “celebration of poetry and prose” party in the East Room of the White House, with Chicago rapper Common among the invited guests.

Criticism:Common - real name: Lonnie Rashid Lynn Jr. - wrote a song honoring Assata Shakur, a convicted-cop killer and fugitive former Black Panther now living in Cuba; the rapper also expressed public support for convicted murderer and controversial cause celebre Mumia Abu-Jamal. A spokesman for the New Jersey State Police union blasted the White House. . . .

Incident: The Obamas took a 17-day trip Hawaii at the end of last year, the family’s annual Christmas vacation.

Criticism: Actually, Mr. Obama didn’t receive much flak - well, except for a report in the National Enquirer that claimed the president wanted to take a cheaper, less extravagant trip to Camp David in Maryland, but was overruled by Mrs. Obama, whose spending “has spiraled completely out of control.” . . .

Incident: With the White House still working on an unfinished jobs plan, Mr. Obama took a vacation to the resort island of Martha’s Vineyard last August.

Criticism: Mr. Obama arrived on the island just as the stock market tanked and opinion polls showed a large majority of Americans being unhappy with the state of the country.

Infuriating fact: Mr. Obama used two helicopters and Air Force One to get to the island; Mrs. Obama and her daughters took a separate military jet and motorcade to arrive on the island four hours before her husband.