NATIONAL–PARTY APPROVAL–Quinnipiac: The Republican Party is approved of by 28% compared to 52% who disapprove. Democrats have a more positive, but still under the water, approval rating of 38% to 44%. Voters also give Republicans in Congress a negative 19% to 71% job approval, compared to a negative 34% to 59% for the Democrats in Congress.
NATIONAL–PRESIDENT–REPUBLICAN PRIMARY–Quinnipiac: Florida U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio (R) 19, U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin (R) 17, Kentucky U.S. Sen. Rand Paul (R) 15, New Jersey Gov. Christopher Christie (R) 14, Florida Former Gov. Jeb Bush (R) 10.
“Three years before the nominating process, the Republicans have no clear favorite,” said Peter A. Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute. “Sen. Marco Rubio benefits from his exposure giving the GOP response to the State of the Union while Congressman Paul Ryan is known as the Republican vice presidential candidate. But history tells us being the running-mate on a losing ticket does not help one’s presidential chances. The last three Republicans in that spot were Sarah Palin, Jack Kemp and Dan Quayle, while the Democrats in that role were John Edwards, Joe Lieberman and Lloyd Bentsen.”
NATIONAL–PRESIDENT–McClatchy: Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton (D) 52, Rubio (R) 40; Clinton (D) 52, Paul (R) 41; Clinton (D) 54, Bush (R) 38.
NATIONAL–PRESIDENT–McClatchy: Vice President Joe Biden (D) 53, Rubio (R) 39; Biden (D) 50, Paul (R) 41; and Biden (D) 49, Bush (R) 41.
LOUISIANA–GOVERNOR–APPROVAL RATINGS–Southern Media & Opinion Research: Gov. Bobby Jindal’s (R) approval rating dropped from 51% in October to just under 38% in March due to voter dissatisfaction with state fiscal and education policies. The poll shows President Obama is currently more popular than Jindal in the state, eking ahead of the governor by five points.
NATIONAL–FEDERAL BUDGET DEFICIT–Marist: 50% of voters nationally have more faith in President Obama than in the Republicans in Congress to handle the issue. This compares with 41% who have more faith in the Republicans in Congress to make the correct choices and 8% who trust neither the president nor the Congressional GOP.
NATIONAL–MARIJUANA LEGALIZATION–Pew Research: A majority of Americans favor legalizing the use of marijuana, 52% to 45%.
“Support for legalizing marijuana has risen 11 points since 2010. The change is even more dramatic since the late 1960s. A 1969 Gallup survey found that just 12% favored legalizing marijuana use, while 84% were opposed.”
NATIONAL–IMMIGRATION–Washington Post-ABC News: 57% of voters support a path to citizenship for undocumented workers, but that number is just 35% among self-identified Republicans. Among self-described “conservative Republicans,” the numbers are even more negative, with just 30% supporting the idea.
At the same time, Democratic support is reaching new highs — moving up to 73% from 68% in February — and 84% of self-identified liberal Democrats support providing a path for undocumented workers to gain legal status.
NATIONAL–GUN CONTROL–Morning Joe/Marist: Six in 10 respondents – including 83 percent of Democrats, 43 percent of gun owners and 37 percent of Republicans – believe that the laws covering gun sales should be stricter. 87% of Americans support background checks for private gun sales and sales at gun shows, and 59% favor legislation that would ban the sale of assault weapons.”
NATIONAL–ECONOMIC PRIORITIES–Morning Joe/Marist: Americans – by nearly a 2-to-1 margin – want President Barack Obama and Congress to make job creation their top priority (64 percent) instead of deficit reduction (33 percent). Those who prefer Washington’s political leaders to emphasize job creation include 76 percent of Democrats and 46 percent of Republicans; a narrow majority of Republican respondents (51 percent) want the focus to be on deficit reduction.
NATIONAL–FEDERAL BUDGET DEFICIT–Morning Joe/Marist: President Obama edges congressional Republicans by four percentage points, 44 percent to 40 percent, on the question of who has a better approach to deal with the federal budget deficit. 42% of respondents prefer a mixture of spending cuts (including to entitlement programs) and revenue increases; 35 percent pick increasing mostly revenue; and just 17 percent choose mostly cutting government spending (including to programs like Medicare and Medicaid). In case you didn’t notice, that means 77% of respondents approve of the Democratic approach compared to just 17% for the Republican approach.