Leaders

Obama’s job approval rating stands at 44% while Bush’s was 35% at the same point in the 2006 midterm year. Clinton’s approval rating was a solid 62% at this point in 1998.

With the midterm elections six months away, Democrats are burdened by an uneven economic recovery and a stubbornly unpopular health care law. Perhaps equally important, Barack Obama’s political standing is in some respects weaker than it was at a comparable point in the 2010 campaign, which ended with the Republicans gaining a majority in the […]

Some Republicans see foreign policy as a winning campaign theme given President Obama's handling of recent international crises. But surveys suggest that may not be the case.

Today, as many Hispanics approve as disapprove (47%-47%) of the new health care law. That's down markedly compared with the 61% approval just six months ago. And during the same time period, Obama’s job approval rating has slipped 15 points among Hispanics.

Vladimir Putin has never been a fan of a free press or open public debates, but the Ukraine crisis has provided the Kremlin with a new favorite target for cracking down even more harshly on political expression: cyberspace.

Vladimir Putin’s third term as Russia’s president had already been marked by clear signs of his intention to reassert his country as a world power before his move to annex Crimea. But whatever impact the latest events have on international opinion about Putin, views about him in the U.S. and allied countries had already turned negative compared to his first took office in 2000.

Given other economic and environmental problems, however, education is not high on the minds of the Chinese public.

Regardless of what happens in the coming days and weeks in Ukraine, it is already apparent that the crisis has taken its toll on some key players in the court of international opinion: Russia, Russian President Vladimir Putin, Western solidarity and U.S. President Barack Obama.

A daily roundup of fresh data from scholars, governments, think tanks, pollsters and other social science researchers. Politics Why Republicans should be worried about 2016, The Washington Post Secretary of State John Kerry’s favorability rising in U.S., Gallup Obama’s approval hits new low, topline, Fox News Republicans resistant to Christie for 2016 bid, Washington Post/ABC […]