Outside the Beltway

Could a coin like this solve the looming debt ceiling crisis?

Seems that the answer continues to be “no.”

Not as much learning going on as one might like, to be honest.

Barone tells some tales to make himself feel better.

Dean Chambers of UnSkewed fame, puts the polling debate into sharp perspective.

As in 2010, Scott Rasmussen’s polling in 2012 has shown a distinct bias in favor of Republicans.

Once again, it seems necessary to debunk some commonly believed myths about polling.

While the conspiracy theory is nuts, there are legitimate reasons to be skeptical of some elements of September’s Jobs Report.

There is nothing wrong with healthy skepticism (which is different than outright denialism).

Within minutes after today’s Jobs Report was released, the conspiracy theorists began to come forward.

The response rates for opinion polling of all types has become incredibly low.

Getting to the heart of the problem from my POV (plus historical numbers).

Yet another case of breathless media reporting on academic research findings.

The arguments of the people claiming that every single poll showing Mitt Romney is unfairly biased do not stand up to scrutiny.

A POLITICO analysis finds that “Obama and his top campaign aides have engaged far more frequently in character attacks and personal insults than the Romney campaign.”

Bill Keith built a successful business making solar-powered ceiling fans. The President’s trade policies are in the process of destroying it.

Slate asks “How Badly Would Usain Bolt Destroy the Best Sprinter of 1896?” and answers with an odd “visualization” of unexplained methodology.

What happened in 1970 to decouple wages and productivity?

Another poll demonstrates the serious problems that the GOP has with Latino voters.

Because, of course, the ends justify the means.

Republican Mitt Romney leads President Obama 46-44 in the latest Fox News poll of registered voters.

Dan Drezner declares that “Policy wonks ignore political science journals at their peril.”

A poll commissioned by the Alabama Education Association shows Mitt Romney with a rather surprising 10 point lead in the Heart of Dixie.

The scam of the US News college rankings and the various ways in which colleges scam said scam rankings.

The January jobs report was the best we’ve seen in more than three years.

Newt Gingrich has amazingly high unfavorables.

Things are tightening up among the Republican candidates in the Palmetto State.

Some good news in the December jobs report.

The United States tops the world in giving money, volunteering time, and helping strangers.

The most disturbing part of Saturday’s debate came when most of the GOP candidates endorsed torture.

Rick Perry has gotten the most and best coverage thus far in the campaign. President Obama has gotten mostly negative coverage.

The very question is rather dubious.

Do we have a new frontrunner in the race for the Republican nomination?

Michele Bachmann is claiming that the debt downgrade proves she was right about not raising the debt ceiling.

The immediate reaction among the political class to the debt downgrade was the play the same old stupid games.

Are the new crop of GOP governors too conservative?

It’s Campaign Fact of Life No. 1: If you aren’t a factor in the race, you aren’t going to get free media.

A study shows that most national columnists and talking heads are about as accurate as a coin flip.

It is waaay too early to be putting much stock in polling for 2012 (either in terms of X v. Obama or GOP v. GOP).

Australia is the only major country with lower tax rates than the USA.

Automated programs are getting very good at poker and are winning large sums on online gambling sites.

Scientists have discovered that the Internet could be a useful collaborate tool.

In a new Gallup poll, Americans rank Ronald Reagan as America’s Greatest President.

A poll that came out late last week purports show that Palin’s speech helped her public image. However, if we look at the numbers, that claim is a weak one.

Rasmussen polls were biased toward Republicans by 3 to 4 points. Rigged results? Or screening error?

215,000 people attended the “Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear” compared to 87,000 for “Restoring Honor.” Even if you believe the numbers, they don’t tell us much.