Matt Ortega

Political Wire:

Former Virginia Gov. Mark Warner (D) holds comfortable leads against both likely rivals in Virginia’s U.S. Senate race in 2008, should he decide to become a candidate, according to a new Rasmussen Reports survey.

In a match-up against former Gov. Jim Gilmore (R), Warner leads 54% to 34%. Against Rep. Tom Davis (R-VA), Warner leads 57% to 30%.

Real Time with Bill Maher returned for another season last night with actor/activist Tim Robbins, NPR’s Michel Martin and Cheney author, Stephen Hayes.

Robbins asserted that Americans were “suckered” into the war with “unrelenting propaganda.” He goes on to argue that Americans would have never sanctioned the war “given the facts.” Hayes contended — in the video at 5:33 — that “Americans supported the war at levels of 75 to 80 percent,” which was meant with groans from the audience and disagreement from Robbins and Maher. To which Hayes said, “Go back and look at the opinion polls.”

So I did.

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The Future Majority’s Mike Connery points to some interesting polling data [PDF] from Greenberg Quinlan Rosner that shows the youth of America trending Democratic by significant margins.

• The Democrats are getting landslide margins with voters under 30; they are even winning whites under 30 by 14 points.
• Instead of losing younger white non-college men by 19 points as in 2004, the Democratic Presidential candidate now is losing them by only 2.
• One of the key blocs of ‘base’ voters for Democrats is unmarried women – who could comprise a quarter of the electorate. The Democrats are winning them by two to one; they are winning white unmarried women by over 20 points. [original emphasis]

Feministing’s Jessica Valenti pointed to an interesting new poll that finds 1 in 5 American women put off having children for fear of healthcare and other costs.

Just over a year ago, FOX News commentator John Gibson voiced his concerns about the growing Latino population that he called on whites to “make more babies” to, you know, maintain the status quo. (Translation: support the white power structure.)

If that’s how he feels, perhaps Gibson could share some of that News Corp. coin to cover their healthcare costs.

Zogby conducted a poll of 10,387 Americans nationwide that revealed that most Americans say “Republicans are most responsible for the world’s ills.”

• On Political Affiliation: When asked which political party most Americans believe to be responsible for many of the gravest problems facing the world:

• War: 62% blamed Republicans vs. 14% Democrats
• Global Warming: 56% blamed Republicans vs. 10% Democrats
• Prejudice: 52% blamed Republicans vs. 22% for Democrats
• Poverty: 49% held Republicans accountable; 29% Democrats
• Corruption: 47% blamed Republicans vs. 31% Democrats
• Crime: On this issue, respondents reversed the trend, with 42% blaming Democrats vs. 23% Republicans