As President Barack Obama orders airstrikes in Iraq and
considers taking executive action on immigration, the latest
Reason-Rupe national telephone poll finds that 42 percent of
Americans feel he has expanded the power of the presidency “too
much” during his time in office. Twenty-one percent of Americans do
not think President Obama has expanded the power of the presidency
enough and 30 percent say he has not increased executive power at
all while in office.
POLL
TOPLINE RESULTS FOUND HERE
When it comes to the conflict between Israel and Hamas, 53
percent of Americans believe the United States should be less
involved in negotiating a long-term peace agreement — 36 percent
feel the US should stay out of the negotiations entirely and 17
percent say the US should be less involved than it is today.
Twenty-one percent feel the US should be more involved in peace
negotiations and the same number want the US to continue its
current level of involvement.
Thirty-seven percent of Americans approve of the job President
Obama is doing on foreign policy, while 53 percent disapprove.
Overall, 43 percent of Americans approve, and 52 percent
disapprove, of the job the president is doing.
Just 18 percent of Americans approve of the job Congress is
doing, while 75 percent disapprove. There’s little enthusiasm
for either party to take over Congress this November. Thirty-four
percent of Americans say they would prefer that neither major party
control Congress, 33 percent hope Republicans control Congress
after the 2014 elections, and 29 percent want Democrats in
control.
Eighty-three percent of registered voters — 84 percent of
Republicans, 73 percent of Democrats and 59 percent of independents
— tell Reason-Rupe they are certain or likely to vote in November.
If the congressional elections were held today, 42 percent of
likely voters say they’d vote for the Democratic Party’s candidate
in their district and 41 percent would vote for the Republican
candidate.
Nearly four out of 10 likely voters, 39 percent, say the economy
is the number one issue influencing how they’ll vote in the
November elections. Perhaps surprisingly, education is the second
most important issue to voters (16 percent), followed by foreign
policy (15 percent), immigration (10 percent), and health care (10
percent).
In terms of economic policies, 74 percent of Americans would
like Congress to focus on policies to promote economic growth,
while 20 percent favor policies to reduce income inequality.
Fifty-five percent of Americans tell Reason-Rupe they have a
favorable opinion of capitalism. Meanwhile, 36 percent of those
surveyed, including 33 percent of independents and 26 percent of
self-described Tea Party supporters, have a favorable opinion of
socialism. Half of Democrats, 50 percent, have a favorable opinion
of socialism, nearly identical to the 53 percent who have a
favorable opinion of capitalism.
The American public appears to be open to a series of
constitutional amendments that have been proposed. Eighty-four
percent of Americans favor requiring members of Congress to be
subject to all of the laws they pass. Nearly three-quarters of
Americans, 74 percent, support an amendment requiring the federal
budget to be balanced. And 57 percent favor the so-called
Citizens United amendment that would allow Congress and states to
regulate campaign contributions and spending. However just 26
percent of those who support a campaign finance amendment would
still favor it if it gave Congress or states the power to regulate
activities such as publishing books or blog posts that support or
oppose political candidates.
Fifty percent of Americans say they’re open to allowing states
to repeal federal laws if half or more of the states, representing
at least half of the country’s total population, vote to repeal a
law.
When asked about the size of government, 54 percent of Americans
favor a smaller government providing fewer services. Forty-two
percent favor a larger government providing more services.
The public is split on the government’s role in promoting values —
49 percent say government should not favor any set of values but 47
percent believe government should promote “traditional”
values.
The Reason-Rupe national telephone poll, executed
by Princeton Survey Research Associates
International, conducted live interviews with 1000 adults on cell
phones (500) and landlines (500) August 6-10, 2014.
The poll’s margin of error is +/-3.7%. Full poll results can be
found here,
including poll toplines (pdf)
and crosstabs (xls).
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