Who says Washington is dysfunctional? Washington is downright happy with the way things are going. Of all the places where the Gallup organization has polled people about their confidence in the economy, Washington, D.C., stands out as most confident. The...
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Photograph by Daniel Acker/Bloomberg
The Washington monument stands as pedestrians walk ahead of the presidential inauguration in Washington, DC.
Washington’s Economic Confidence No. 1
Photograph by Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images
A Senate staff member prepares for a press conference on Capitol Hill on Jan. 24, 2013.
Blumenthal Seeks Background Checks for Bullet Buyers
While President Barack Obama pushes for background checks for gun purchasers, Senator Richard Blumenthal today introduced legislation requiring buyers of ammunition to undergo the same reviews. Blumenthal, a Democrat from Connecticut, scene of last month’s killing of 20 first-grade students...
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Photograph by Daniel Acker/Bloomberg
A shopper organizes his cash at a Best Buy Co. store in Peoria.
Economic Confidence: Gallup Survey Against Grain of Consumer Indices
There are indicators, and there are indicators. One of the leading indicators of consumer confidence, the Conference Board, reported today that confidence reached its lowest level in more than a year in January as renewed payroll taxes took a bigger...
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Photograph by Daniel Acker/Bloomberg
Shantrese Davis, from New Orleans, Louisiana, on the National Mall during the U.S. presidential inauguration in Washington on Jan. 21, 2013.
Bloomberg by the Numbers: 76
That’s the percentage-point gap between the Democratic and Republican approval ratings of President Barack Obama last year, according to Gallup. Obama’s average approval rating in 2012 was 86 percent among Democrats and 10 percent among Republicans. The 76-point gap ties...
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Photograph by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images
A "now hiring" sign at a Chase bank branch in San Rafael, California.
Unemployment 8% Mid-January: Gallup
When it comes to work, there are indicators and then there are indicators. The Labor Department won’t report on the state of the U.S. job market this month until the first Friday in February. Gallup, which conducts its own survey...
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Photograph by Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg
Contractors at a construction site in Lorton, Virginia.
Bloomberg by the Numbers: 25
That’s the percentage of Americans who say it’s a good time to find a quality job, according to Gallup. That’s the highest share measured by Gallup on that question since March 2008, before a credit crisis took hold that drove...
Read more »Congress Approval Rating Dips Even Lower to 14%
The 113th Congress began with a job approval rating dipped to 14 percent, according to a Gallup poll taken after President Barack Obama and lawmakers agreed to extend the Bush tax cuts for most Americans and postponed decisions on spending. The...
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Photograph by Jacquelyn Martin/AP Photo
The Capitol Visitor's Center in Washington.
Bloomberg by the Numbers: 43, 45
Those are the percentages of Americans who approve and disapprove, respectively, of last week’s agreement on the so-called fiscal cliff, according to Gallup. While Americans generally are divided on the agreement to avert automatic tax hikes and spending cuts, self-identified...
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Photograph by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
Speaker of the House John Boehner leaves a House Republican Caucus meeting on Jan. 1, 2013 in Washington.
Bloomberg by the Numbers: 25%
That’s the percentage of Americans who approve of the House speaker’s handling of the fiscal negotiations, according to Gallup. As the 113th Congress is sworn in today, with Republican House Speaker John Boehner of Ohio standing for re-election as leader...
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Photograph by Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images
Marine One, carrying U.S. President Barack Obama and the First Family leave for Hawaii for their Christmas break.
Obama’s Pre-Holiday Approval: 57% — Post-Holiday Pre-Cliff: 56%
Updated at 3:30 pm EST Something has happened to President Barack Obama’s approval rating since Election Day, in the midst of an apparently intractable dispute with the House’s Republicans over taxes and spending and in the aftermath of one of...
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Contributors
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Al Hunt
is a columnist for Bloomberg View and host of the weekly show "Political Capital with Al Hunt" on Bloomberg TV. -
Mark Silva
is deputy managing editor for government news in Washington and editor of Political Capital. He has covered the White House and national politics. -
Emma Fidel
is political editor for Bloomberg.com in Washington. She previously covered financial regulation as a Bloomberg intern. -
Don Frederick
edits political and government coverage for Bloomberg News. He previously worked for more than a decade at the Los Angeles Times' Washington bureau. -
Gregory Giroux
analyzes elections, financing of congressional and presidential elections, political advertising and demographics in Bloomberg's Washington Bureau. -
Julie Bykowicz
covers the influence of money and lobbying in Washington, and covered the state legislature and city crime for the Baltimore Sun for 10 years. -
Jonathan Salant
covers campaign finance and lobbying in Washington. He was president of the National Press Club and started in Washington in 1987. -
Richard Rubin
covers federal tax policy. He worked at Congressional Quarterly and The Charlotte Observer before joining Bloomberg News in 2010. -
Julie Hirschfeld Davis
is a senior political reporter for the Washington Bureau. She covered the 2012 campaign for Bloomberg News and previously covered the White House for the Baltimore Sun. -
Lisa Lerer
covers the White House and covered the 2012 campaign for Bloomberg News. She covered Congress, lobbying and the 2008 campaign for Politico. -
John McCormick
is a national political reporter looking forward to the 2016 presidential campaign, which will be the fifth he's covered. He's also reported for The Des Moines Register and Chicago Tribune. -
Julianna Goldman
covers the White House for Bloomberg News and Bloomberg Television. -
Hans Nichols
covers the White House for Bloomberg News and Bloomberg Television. -
Margaret Talev
covers the White House for Bloomberg News and covered the White House for McClatchy Newspapers. She has covered California and Florida politics. -
Cary O'Reilly
is Editor at Large at Bloomberg First Word and is Washington Daybook columnist for Bloomberg Government and Bloomberg News.
