it's eb. >>> there are two very recognizable names at the top of the new cnn/orc poll of the 2016 possible presidential candidates, romney and bush. but also on the list is dr. ben carson, he's in second place in the new cnn poll behind 2012 nominee mitt romney. and ahead of the third member of the bush political dynasty, jeb bush. dr. carson is back with me right now. i want to talk politics in a moment. but first, i want to quickly get your reaction to -- i interviewed cornell william brooks, the president and ceo of the naacp. he had some strong words when i asked him to react to some of the comments you've been making on ferguson, on president obama. he said this, dr. carson. listen to what cornell brooks said. >> i believe dr. carson, with all due respect, should stick to the operating room rather than the campaign trail. these are the facts. we have a criminal justice system that overincarcerates and undereducates, broadly speaking. the facts are african-american males are overincarcerated. >> you want to react to cornell brooks? >> well, i always find it interesting that people thin

a new cnn-orc poll is out. hillary clinton and mitt romney lead the 2016 pack. romney is at 20%. ben carson 10%, jeb bush 9%. hillary clinton at -- >> the new york daily news, president obama and mitch mcconnell, the two have a white house meeting. it is happening today. it is the first one-on-one since the midterms. no word if bourbon will be involved. the white house can't explain why soap opera producer just became ambassador to hungary. colleen bell works on "the bold and the beautiful." take a listen. >> well, let me say it this way, ambassador bell has the president's confidence. >> where does the president get that confidence? in her confirmation hearing, she couldn't even name a single strategic interest the united states had. >> she certainly is somebody, again, that has had her own distinguished private sector career. >> as a soap opera producer. >> president obama goes 3-d. the smithsonian is behind it. it is the first ever 3-d printed presidential bust. look at that. how is it done? by using 50 cust

this is according to a new cnn/orc poll. when asked about your approach to food this time of year 62% of you said you planned to indulge and eat whatever you want. that's a big 15-point jump from eight years ago when 47% ago chose the eat until you drop approach. and nearly 6 in 10 of you say you have no plans to go on a diet after the holidays. >> they're all liars. >> they say what they're going to do and you do it, anyway. i watch what i eat very carefully as i eat it. i watch what i eat, i eat whatever i want. it's the holidays don't worry about it. that's what it's for. >> not to say you're going to go on a diet. i feel like when you say it around the holidays it never happens. >> i think your birthday for pnl finance and weight loss your birthday is the time, start fresh. >> it's too late for this year too much pressure. >> now to meteorologist jennifer gray keeping track of the latest forecast for us good morning. >> we are watching our next storm system brew in the west. in fact dumping quite a bit of snow in the roc

take a look at the brand-new cnn/orc poll numbers. 48% of americans now they say approve of the way thesident is handling his job. that's the president's best showing since may of 2013 when he had a 53% approval rating. there was a major shift just in the last month. you see his approval numbers jumped four points since november. joining me now, ron brownstein. ron, talk about this bump, if you will. one of the things that i noticed was in the last press conference that he had. and he listed all of his accomplishments, how great the economy was, how things were on the mend. and people have been asking him, his supporters especially, to talk about it. does this have anything to do with the fact that he's pushing this forward? >> the swagger at that press conference is striking for a guy whose other party got to its best representation in the house since the recession. but there's been a resurgence in activity from the white house since that election. the unilateral action on immigration, the climate deal with china, the normalization with cuba. but the biggest factor -- clearly also in y

in a new cnn orc poll it was first among those polled. take a look at this.owed closely behind, you see russia, syria and china rounding out the top five, north korea's kim jong-un topped the list of least popular leaders. if you've been paying attention we're about to get hacked, 84% of those polled have an unfavorable opinion of him followed by fidel castro, putin, rouhani and syrian president bashar al assad. >>> health officials recommend gay men who abstained from sex for one year could donate blood in 2015. if approved this would end a lifetime ban on the group. officials say evidence shows the change in policy would not create a risk to the nation's blood supply. >>> coming up for you here on cnn, we'll look at two brothers orphaned by the 2004 tsunami and how they transformed their grief. stay with us. ♪ make the best entertainment part of your holidays. catch all the hottest handpicked titles on the winter watchlist, only with xfinity from comcast. >>> we are approaching now the 10th anniversary of the devastating indian ocean tsunami. it was decembe

. >> a new cnn/orc poll released today shows a lot more americans are optimistic about the u.s. economy. 51% now say economic conditions in the united states are good. that's up from 38% back in october. so americans are feeling a lot more confident. what's behind this pretty dramatic increase? >> reporter: they're great numbers. it's twofold. first, it is unquestionably gas prices. you have a national average for gas prices of $2.38 a gallon. that is remarkable. you have oil still below $60 a barrel. that translates into a lot more money for the average american to spend. what are they doing with that? they're spending it. they're pushing it into the economy. it couldn't happen at a better time. the holiday shopping season. americans feel like they have a little more spending money. secondly it's jobs. when you look long term, we have to remember that finally this year, the u.s. economy gained back the 8.7 million jobs that we lost during the great recession. and that feels good. it's not great because we're not where we need to be in terms of job growth in line with population

the name at the top, you've seen it before, that's mitt romney, 20% in the new cnn/orc poll say theyrt the former massachusetts governor for president again. and who is it? wait, second, ben carson, an african-american retired neurosurgeon who has never held office. he's in second place. carson regularly makes the rounds on conservative radio and television. only after carson do you see former florida governor jeb bush and then new jersey governor chris christie. bush said just last night he'll decide in "short order" whether or not he'll make a run for the white house. >> joining us to talk about this, sally kohn and doug heye. nevertheless, jeb bush's name appears second on the list and there are big names that appear beneath his name. is that a big surprise to see ben carson doing so well? >> right now not really. to use an example, a lot of people thought the new orleans saints would win the nfc championship, which is a primary. and might win the super bowl, which is the general. but pre-season polling and precampaign polls, they're interesting to talk about but they don't really

let's talk about our brand new cnn/orc poll which has a bit of a surprise, when you look at 2016 andlican contenders, first, if mitt romney runs he would be the overwhelming front-runner. 20%, look at the guy at number two, dr. ben carson, a nonpolitician. and then bush, christie, huckabee. here's what happens if romney does not run. jeb buescher, 14%, ben carson hangs in there at 11%. and huckabee, christie, ryan, there is no front-runner. the republican party, you normally know who the guy is we don't know who the guy is. unless romney runs, but he says he's not. the other thing that's interesting is dr. ben carson. not a politician. after this mid-term election, after the last few years of washington dysfunction it's clear that even republicans are looking, trying to think outside the box. >> one of the interesting things about romney is in january of 2011 he also was at 20% in several polls. so there is a sweet spot for romney within the republican party. but when you're talking about ben carson, he seems to be speaking to the activist class in the republican party. and they are

a new nationwide cnn/orc poll shows 23% of the republicans surveyed support a bush run. ten points ahead of the closest competitor which would be new jersey governor chris christie in at 13%. on the democratic side hillary clinton is still the favorite. if she runs she has the support of 2/3 of democrats polled. elizabeth warren who said she's not running, comes in second. and joe biden at 8%. 2016 could be a flashback year in american politics. back to 1992 a bush/clinton vying for the white house. joining me tonight, professor of politics at usc and democratic strategist. always a pleasure. we can just go back and roll the old highlight tape. probably saying the same stuff who knows. let's about jeb bush. is this a good start for him? he's on top of the pack by double-digits. what do you make of it? >> his lead is not nearly as big as hillary clinton's lead in the numbers you just showed. because even in the gop, the bush legacy is not an unmixed blessing. the establishment republicans have decided they're for jeb. they think christie is too damaged, paul ryan is too u

meantime, a new cnn/orc poll just released finds 62% of americans believe sony overreacted by pullingeaters. but 61% believe it's fair game to call the hack on sony a terrorist act by north korea. >>> "rolling stone" magazine has commissioned the colombia university school of journalism to review its widely discredited article biabout a gang rape on the university of virginia. the review will be conducted by the dean of the journalism school and the dean of academic affairs, it will evaluate the editorial process that led to the publication of that story. "rolling stone" says the findings will be published unedited on its website. another record for gas prices, they have now fallen 89 days in a row. we have not seen a higher price at the pump since september. now the previous record was in the fall of 2008 as the recession began. the national average for a gallon of regular stands at $2.38. down 86 cents from this time last year. it has been remarkable. have you seen 89 days in a row of falling gas prices, puts money into people's pockets. >> your favorite christmas story. >> it is. >

the new cnn/orc poll gives president obama his highest rating since may of 2013. all of this, what it means for your wallet and for the president with cnn global economic analyst and "time" assistant managing editor, rona fruhar and paul bega begala, democratic strategist and director for superpac democratic action. >> are president obama's improving poll numbers directly tied to the improving stock market numbers? or are you going to claim it has something to do with leadership? >> it's not simply the stock market, because that's been booming for quite some time. i think the most important thing to look at in economic data from a political point of view is jobs and income. and more americans this christmas have jobs, they're making a little bit more. we want to see incomes go up. but 20 states have raised the minimum wage had nothing to do with president obama. so it's mostly the economy. but there has also been some of the executive actions, the president has taken since he got pasted in the election just a few weeks ago. particularly on immigration and now open