ABC News/Washington Post Monthly Poll, January 2010

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This poll, fielded January 12-15, 2010, is part of a continuing series of monthly surveys that solicit public opinion on the presidency and on a range of other political and social issues. A national sample of 1,083 adults was surveyed, including an oversample of African Americans. Respondents were asked whether they approved of the way Barack Obama was handling the presidency, the economy, health care, and the federal budget deficit, and whether they had a favorable opinion of President Obama. Respondents were queried on whether they thought the country was headed in the right direction, and whether they were confident that the Democratic Party and the Republican Party would make the right decisions for the country's future. Respondents were asked whether they approved of the way that Nancy Pelosi was handling her job as Speaker of the House, whether they approved of the way Harry Reid was handling his job as Majority Leader of the Senate, and what was the one most important problem they would like to see President Obama and the Congress deal with this year. Information was collected on whether respondents thought Obama had accomplished a lot during his presidency, whether he was keeping most of his major campaign promises, and who they thought was to blame for the country's economic situation. Respondents were queried on how they thought the United States campaign against terrorism was going, whether the federal government should investigate possible terrorist threats, even if that intrudes on personal privacy, and whether police and other authorities should or should not be permitted to use personal characteristics like religion, or ethnicity, or nationality in deciding who to search in security lines at airports or other locations. Respondents were asked whether they approved or disapproved of President Obama's decision to close the United States military prison in Guantanamo Bay, whether they support or oppose the proposed changes to the health care system, whether they preferred the public option, and whether they have health insurance. Respondents were queried on whether they thought the federal government should try to limit the size of the bonuses banks can pay to their top employees, whether they would support or oppose a special tax on bonuses over one million dollars, and whether they would support or oppose higher taxes targeted at banks that do a lot of trading in the stock market. Finally, respondents were asked whether Obama's presidency has helped or hurt race relations in the United States, whether they favor smaller government with fewer services, or larger government with more services, whether they favor or oppose legalizing the possession of small amounts of marijuana for personal and medical use, and whether they voted in the last presidential election. Demographic variables include sex, age, race, household income, education level, political party affiliation, political philosophy, political ideology, religious preference, and whether the respondent is a born-again Christian.