A new national survey by Edison’s partner in Iraq, IIACSS, shows a cautiously optimistic outlook towards the New Year. The survey, part of the 33 nation “End of Year” study for the Gallup International Association, interviewed 1015 Iraqis nationwide on a host of issues, mostly dealing with the nation’s economy. The survey showed a majority […]
rfarbman
I had my second in-person encounter with NJ Governor Jon Corzine last week. This one was at a “Green Day” environmental fair in Maplewood NJ. Our prior meeting had been a 4th of July parade a couple of years ago. Both times I went out of my way to shake the Governor’s hand. My goal […]
rfarbman
Just as the jokes about providing your zip code to the Radio Shack clerk as ransom to complete your purchase had become cliche, enter “The Shack. ” Yes, Radio Shack has rebranded itself as “The Shack,” and with the new name has come a fresh batch of ridicule for the struggling electronics chain. Judging from […]
rfarbman
While the dust has not begun to settle on the “Bing” search engine push by Microsoft or its partnership deal with Yahoo, the search wars remain a lopsided battle. The July 2009 online ratings from comScore show Google with 64.7% of the search market share (a tick lower than its 65.0% share in June), with […]
rfarbman
With approval ratings for both President Obama and the Democratic Congress declining, top political analyst Charlie Cook is forecasting strong gains for the Republicans in the 2010 midterm elections. Obama’s approval now stands at around 51% (only 8 above his disapproval rating), and Cook currently predicts a Republican gain of 20 House seats in 2010. […]
rfarbman
A post by Joshua Grossman on fivethirtyeight.com makes some interesting observations on shifts in liberal voting in the Senate this year. The chart below shows Senators with the biggest shift away from “progressive” (liberal) votes when compared with their lifetime Senate voting record. The Senator with the biggest shift away from progressive votes is Russ […]
rfarbman
Among Barack Obama’s oft-stated goals during the 2008 campaign was repairing the image of the United States abroad. New data from Pew shows that Obama’s election and his early performance in office have achieved that goal in many parts of the world, but not in the area many consider most crucial: Muslim nations. Not surprisingly, […]
rfarbman
New data released by Pew shows members of “Gen Next” (also known as “Gen Y”) becoming more liberal politically, more interested in the political process, and having more confidence in elected officials than in previous years. Using what Pew calls their “Social Conservatism Index”, the trended data shows Gen Next (those born since 1977) holding […]
rfarbman
As Sonia Sotomayor glides towards confirmation to the Supreme Court, a fascinating graphic from Nick Summers in this week’s Newsweek highlights the history of each of the nine seats on the top court. As the Newsweek chart shows, there have been only 98 Associate Justices and 17 Chief Justices since the first court convened in […]
rfarbman
As the worldwide recession continues with stubborn ferocity, the biggest net losers are of course those with the most to lose…current and former billionaires. As reported by Forbes, the world has lost nearly 30% of its billionaires in the past year. But as is the case with the “housing bubble”, the “billionaire bubble” still has […]
rfarbman
Much has been made of a recent Gallup/USA Today poll that asked respondents to name “the main person who speaks for the Republican Party today.” The USA Today headline read “Poll: Most don’t know who speaks for GOP” and showed that Republican respondents mentioned Rush Limbaugh and Newt Gingrich most often with 10% each, followed […]
rfarbman
A new Gallup survey shows Nancy Pelosi with nearly identical (low) favorability ratings to the poster child of polarizing politicians — Dick Cheney. Both had roughly the same favorability ratings in the latest survey, with Pelosi at 34% favorable and 50% unfavorable, and Cheney at 37% favorable and 54% unfavorable (and yes, that means 9% […]
rfarbman