Leaders

The reaction to the first presidential debate was better for Barack Obama in social media than in the traditional press, where the consensus was that Mitt Romney had won handily. But the sentiment differed by social media platform and generally criticism was more plentiful than praise.

The Kremlin’s demand that the U.S. Agency for International Development cease its activities in Russia follows months of accusations by Vladimir Putin that recent anti-government protests in Russia are the result of meddling by the U.S. and other Western governments. However, many Russians may not be convinced that such meddling is a fact.

Overview Like Mitt Romney, Barack Obama was not the highlight of his party’s convention. Among those who watched at least a little coverage of the Democratic convention, 29% say the highlight was Bill Clinton’s speech, while 16% name Obama’s speech as the highlight. About as many (15%) say that first lady Michelle Obama’s speech was […]

Four years ago, voters’ descriptions of Barack Obama focused on his newness on the political scene. In September 2008, more voters used the word inexperienced to describe Obama than any other word, while change was the most frequently used positive term. Words like young, charismatic and new were also among the top descriptions. Today, the […]

Asked for their one-word impression of Joe Biden, more people use negative than positive words to describe the vice president. Many of the negative words disparage Biden’s competence and performance, with idiot, incompetent and clown among the terms used most frequently. Of those offering a word to describe Biden, 38% use negative terms, while 23% […]

At the Republican and Democratic National Conventions, Americans will notionally be choosing their candidates for president of the United States. The world’s citizens get no say in this choice. Nevertheless, people outside the U.S. have definite opinions about Obama and some of the key issues in the campaign.

A plurality of independents (42%) rate Mitt Romney’s choice of Rep. Paul Ryan as his running mate “only fair” or “poor,” but even more rate Joe Biden’s performance negatively.

On the eve of the conventions, the portrayal in the news media of the character and records of the two presidential contenders in 2012 has been as negative as any campaign in recent times, and neither candidate has enjoyed any advantage over the other.

On the eve of the conventions, Barack Obama holds a distinct advantage over Mitt Romney in the way his campaign is using digital technology to communicate directly with voters. The Obama campaign is posting almost four times as much content and is active on nearly twice as many platforms, according to a new study analyzing the content and volume of candidate communications on their websites and social media channels.