scott rasmussen is president of rasmussen reports. good morning to you.ng on in this changing field? >> this is amazing. this is our fifth monthly poll in iowa and the fifth frontrunner. we had michele bachmann, rick perry, herman cain and newt gingrich and mitt romney. amidst all the volatility there are signs of continuity. mitt romney in every single poll has been between 17 and 23%. he is clearly a significant player. ron paul doing a bit better now but he has been in double digits every time. the third player at the top has been changing. right now we see newt gingrich is following the path of earlier front-runners. had his time at the top. bill: why is that scott? because your poll and so many others had him, he was firing off like a rocket over the past three weeks? >> he was. by the way, rick perry came in as the frontrunner. so did herman cain. i think in newt gingrich's case he was the top because like the others he was not mitt romney but then there has been a pretty blistering campaign against him. some ads by ron all. paul. challenges by peop

let's talk with scott rasmussen, the president of rasmussen reports.com. support the stories in the press the last week or so that newt gingrich's surge has seemed to peak an has dropped back. >> absolutely, newt gingrich showed at 32% a month ago, he slipped a little bit further. in iowa at the moment it's become a race between romney and paul for the top. then you've got four other candidates. gingrich, rick perry, rick santorum and michelle bachmann who are all expecting to finish fourth, but romney is at the top of the heat. jon: one of the questions you asked is who do you believe would be the strongest competitor to run against president obama? mitt romney comes out on that poll -- on top in that poll as well with 35%. explain the difference between the 35% he gets in this poll, and the 25% in the other one. >> partly the reason that some people are voting for mitt romney is simply because they see him as the most electable. the reason the 35% say he's the strongest candidate but only 25% would vote for him because there is some discomfort among a co

scott rasmussen is president of rasmussen reports.n, people want to look to you because they want to know in advance what's going to happen. the best interest kateor we very that is the polls. whatever their potential failings are. you are showing romney leading in iowa which is contrary to the real clear politics average all polls which shows ron paul leading in iowa. you show mitt romney at 25%, mitt romney second and newt gingrich at 17. i want to ask what you are showing in terms of trend. >> anybody who is look at a caucus poll is selling you something you shouldn't be buying. the way beam get into a caucus is different and there could be changes. we see mitt romney and ron paul both being steady month after month after month. they are doing well and they will fight out for the top spot. that's what we are seeing in the polls. the different right now. mitt romney is being seen as more and more strongest potential general election candidate. ron paul is being seen by more and more republicans as the weakest. megyn: who do you actu

. >> gregg: the latest polling by scott rasmussen, president of rasmussen reports, and the author of people's money." he joins us now live. scott, thanks very much for being with us. happy new year in advance. so this is within the margin of error, right? so arguably it's a tie. >> absolutely. the last three polls we've done in iowa, romney has been in first, ron paul has been in second. they've been very close. i think both those men will feel pretty good after january 3. the next three, they're playing musical chairs and desperately hoping not to be at the bottom of that pack. >> heather: nationally, you polled a lot of voters across both spectrums and what were the election day predictions from those that you polled? >> 47% say they think the republicans will win the white house in 2012. 39% think that president obama will get reelected. by the way, it's by two to one margin, people think republican also control the house and a plurality think they'll win the senate. if people are right, it will be all republican federal government next year. but it's a long way to november. >> gr

scott rasmussen, president of rasmussen reports joining us with more on that.idate that could still possibly run. >> you know what? there is so much volatility in the numbers, six out of ten iowa caucus goers say they could change their minds in the next two-and-a-half weeks. while we have a three-way tie at the top and 2% looking for somebody else, nobody really knows what is going to happen. when you look at the trends we've seen, mitt romney and ron paul pretty steady support. they will do okay. but who will fill the rest of the top tier slots? game of musical chairs. have no idea. >> gregg: scott, what about new hampshire? mitt romney has a home this, beautiful home on the lake. governor, in the neighboring state. >> right now, mitt romney is where he has been from the beginning. on top of the poll. the latest poll we did, i was curious to see what happened. because it was the first time we polled there after herman cain dropped out of the race. guess what? neither mitt romney nor newt gingrich gained from that. support went to other candidates including ro

scott rasmussen is a even independent pollster. hi, scott. >> hi,al -- alisyn, how are you?aken to the podium to give us the house response. we'll be back with you in just a second. >> the president and leaders of both houses of congress have called for a year-long extension of the payroll tax credit. the house has passed a bill that would do just that. it would extend and reform unemployment insurance, protect social security, and create jobs. we are proud of the bill that we passed. the house passed it with bipartisan support. we also understand the senate passed a different bill. we oppose that bill because the two-month extension will create more uncertainty for job creators in our country when millions of americans are out of work. the payroll processing companies say the senate bill is unworkable and so complex that's americans may not even get the tax credit. so today we have voted to go to a formal conference to resolve the differences between the two bills. this is a system that our founders gave us, it's as old as our nation and as clear as the constitution. our ho

tell us which gop candidates are best suited to take down president obama next year, pollster scott rasmussennd do you go schone. thank you for being with us. where do we start. tell us where we are in terms of the president's approval ratings. i gave you the numbers, what do they mean? >> the president is vulnerable. his number is below 50%. he'll get 47% of the vote but republicans shouldn't get too cocky because there is not a lot of yardage between them. if the economy gets stronger he could be strong position. >> i agree what scott said. as unpopular president obama is, the republicans are arguably more unpopular. if you listen to what david axelrod said today, the white house is prepared to run a strong negative campaign against the republicans generally and the house republicans in particular labeling them intransigent in the fight of the payroll tax cut. >> fred: that is what he needs the billion dollars for. >> you can't make an argument that has improved the country and put us on the right track, most or 75% or more we're on the wrong track so it will be divisive negative campaign.

intent pollster scott rasmussen is president of rasmussen reports.com, and fox news digital politics editor, chris stirewalt, host of "power play" on foxnews.com live. this is big news, scott, this is the first time you've shown anybody in the gop field that much ahead of the next closest contender, correct? >> that's correct. and what's really startling is the trend. two months ago gingrich was at ten points and then 14 a month ago and now all the way to 38%. romney's numbers heading from the opposite direction, from 29% in november, to 23% and now down to 17. what's really amazing about this is those two have become the only candidates people are looking at right now. megyn: this is emerging, according to your polling, as a two-man race. and these are polls of likely gop primary voters, scott? >> that's correct, which includes independents who might vote in a primary, many states do allow that, and it's a national poll. the nervousness the gingrich campaign should feel comes from the fact that only one out of three of these voters is absolutely certain that they won't change their m

martha: scott rasmussen is here, the president of rasmussen reports.to be with you, martha. martha: the one we just saw, the generic ballot, how significant is that against u know, some unnamed person? >> generic hasn't taken part in any of the debates. this tells us more about president obama more than anyone else. he has low support in the low 40s. if the election were held today that would be a problem for him. martha: 40% do not approve. 21% strongly approve. how does that rank with prior presidents who have been trying to get reelected for another term. >> these numbers are weak for any president trying to get reelected. for the full month of november president obama's ratings have ticked up just a little bit. they are still not in great shape. if his numbers continue to improve between now and november he'll be just fine. if they stall and head in the other direction it will be hard for a republican to loose. martha: the unemployment picture may be helping him as well. >> consumer confidence is up a little bit. martha: there are a number of indic

jon: scott rasmussen. thank you. 've got a new book coming out. >> the people's money, how the american people would balance america's money. it's coming out on amazon.com right now. jon: we'll check it out. julie: six days to go before the first contest in the presidential election. the iowa caucuses of course. texas congressman ron paul, leading or at least tying for first in the latest hawk-eye state polls. the new frontrunner boasting a formidable ground organization, key to getting his supporters to show up on january 3rd. it will be a frigid outing for those supporters. chief political correspondent carl cameron joins us live from newton, iowa. >> reporter: we are at the iowa speedway where ron paul will be rallying supporters in about an hour and telling them it's time to put the pedal to the metal in the spinal sprint for the caucuses. mr. paul has been leading in a lot of the polls for weeks now. as a consequence he has been under considerable fire for his arrive values. mr. paul was one of the first to go on

scott rasmussen joins us now.e presses there this is the first time you are talking about these numbers. tell us what you think the new polls reveal. >> a month ago herman cain was still in the race. romney is down a point, gingrich is down two points. ron paul up 4, very close to newt gingrich. among those who are certain of how they will vote, he's doing better than gingrich. people recognizing gingrich and romney as frontrunners but there is still some reluctance to embrace them. alisyn: we wants to bring in campaign carl cameron. he's live in des moines, iowa. hi, carl. i know you have seen the numbers. what do you make of what's happening in new hampshire? >> reporter: i think it's reflective of what's happening on the ground. romney is a front runner with a real challenge. in addition to the idea that romney has cultivated a reputation for being more electable than newt gingrich. on the other hand, sometimes history and familiarity can breed contempt and that can benefit somebody like newt gingrich. certainl

scott rasmussen, from rasmussen reports. >> thank you. jon: thank you.sidential debate from iowa. bret baier is the moderator. your last chance to hear the candidates square off face-to-face before those all-important iowa caucuses. it is tomorrow night, 9:00 p.m. eastern time. two-hour debate here on fox news channel. more coverage with "happening now." apple or cherry? cherry. oil or cream? oil or cream? cream. reddi-wip us real dairy crm. nothing's more real than reddi-wip. and how about th steel springs can cause uncomfortable pressure points. but the sleep number bed contours to your body. imagine how good you'll feel when your muscles relax and you fall into a deep sleep! i'm not just a back surgeon, i'm also a back patient. i sleep on the sleep number bed myself and i highly recommend it to all of my patients. need another reason to call? the sleep number bed costs about the same as an innerspring but lasts twice as long. so if you want to sleep better or find relief for your bad back, call now. call the number on your screen for your free informa

scott rasmussen, from rasmussen reports. >> thank you. jon: thank you.sidential debate from iowa. bret baier is the moderator. your last chance to hear the candidates square off face-to-face before those all-important iowa caucuses. it is tomorrow night, 9:00 p.m. eastern time. two-hour debate here on fox news channel. more coverage with "happening now." apple or cherry? cherry. oil or cream? oil or cream? cream. reddi-wip us real dairy crm. nothing's more real than reddi-wip. jenna: no secret, companies across the country are trying to cut the cost of health care by offering workers financial benefits, get this, if they lose weight. dan springer live in seattle. first question, is fox news doing this? should jon and i know about this policy. >> reporter: you're way too thin, jenna. wouldn't work for you. jenna: good answer, dan springer. you can be on all the time. okay. is this working dan? is this policy actually helping companies save money? >> reporter: economists say it is too early to know because the problem is just too big. we definitely know th

most recent poll that pollster scott rasmussen released, mitt romney and gingrich lead among likely caucus goers who identify themselves as republicans. ron paul has a big lead who are not republicans. actually i found out 51% of ron paul supporters in iowa identify themselves as republicans meaning half of them don't. the numbers are quite similar for new hampshire as well. >> shannon: that seems to be surprising half the people backing a gop contender don't identify themselves as republicans. he's done a successful job to reaching leaching out to moderates or independents? >> it's a little of both. there is disaffected independence and libertarians and perhaps democrats that legitimately supported ron paul. there are also especially in new hampshire with the voting rules there, there are democrats who are likely to take part and vote in the republican caucuses, vote for ron paul because he makes the ideologically extreme. then, of course, they will vote for president obama next november. there a little bit of mischief voting in new hampshire. >> shannon: let's talk about iowa. how does t

by way of comparison, scott rasmussen's poll which showed mitt romney in the lead had 750 interviewsterviews. there is a smaller error margin in those. but what we're seeing among all these candidates or a number of them they're bunched when you take the real clear politics average within the error margin of just about any poll. and we know that they can change opinion quickly. newt gingrich is the latest candidate to go up and down. republican voters say they believe in traditional marriage but they have been quick to divorce a candidate. jon: all right. well, roughly half of the, at least according to that "rasmussen reports poll" because we had it on yesterday, roughly half the caucus-goers or people who say they will be going and voting in the caucuses they haven't absolutely made up their mind yet. they say they're still open to persuasion. i guess hence the attack ads on newt gingrich and maybe some of the other candidates. >> yes. i suppose we're even going to get christmas twitter feeds by some of the candidates or groups supporting them. there is not very much time left of n

pollster cat rasmussen -- scott rasmussen joins us now.>> patti ann, it's great to be with you. i do think you have to keep these numbers in context. mitt romney is the only republican who's been ahead more than once against president obama, but for the most part, the two men have been pretty even throughout all the polling. and the other thing that we see in this is the importance of the tea party and can they coalesce behind a candidate like mitt romney? among people who are not a part of the tea party, the president leads by 12 points. but 75% of tea party members say given a choice between mitt romney and president obama, thai going with romney. -- they're going with romney. patti ann: it is his biggest lead yet, in fact, the biggest lead any republican has posted. but we should say that romney's level of support is 45%. he has earned that level of support before. the reason for the or bigger gap is that obama has dropped to a new low of 39% against romney. you say that's not very significant. he was at 40% prior. >> that's right. and,

and scott rasmussen published a new poll today and he asked people, what's more important to you, the allegations against cain or the fact that he's had difficulty answering foreign policy questions? 43% said the allegations, 45% said the foreign policy questions. so, it's about split. people have been disturbed by that. john roberts mentioned steve king, the representative from iowa saying something essentially pronouncing the campaign dead. i've spoken to cain about this and he was concerned about this for quite a while. there was a real problem with the cain campaign before any of these allegations came out. >> now, byron, to your point earlier today on fox news, mike huckabee who will be having a forum with some of the candidates, he talked about this very issue. he says he knows herman cain and he likes him and a very good guy. once he announced he was reassessing his campaign, that was a sign to the american people that perhaps his campaign was over, because some of the american people liked him and saying once you're reassessing it you're not going forward. michele bachmann did

scott rasmussen of rasmussen reports is the author of the new book "the people's money."s my guest live. let's talk about the latest poll and we'll get to what you've seen over the last weeks and months. right now you're showing romney and paul neck-and-neck, it's romney 23 and paul 22. that means statistically they are tied. >> yeah they are even. the significant thing here is among republican voters, people who are republicans and will go to the caucus mitt romney leads ron paul by 11 points. but among people who aren't republicans, those who are coming just to vote for ron paul, those who are from outside the process ron paul has a huge lead, he's at 38% of the vote for all nonrepublican whose will participate in this. a better turn out by regular republicans helps mitt romney, a lower turn out by that group helps ron paul. the other big news here, rick santorum. a couple weeks ago he was at 4%, a week ago he was at 10%, now he is at 16. he is clearly moving on up. megyn: if we can look at your poll again with the numbers, your latest numbers in iowa it says the margin

scott rasmussen has a brand new poll, called about 1,000 people.ering over mitt romney by 21 points, 38-17. herman cain has 8. ron paul has 8 as well. when you look at -- they ask whether or not, you know, are you absolutely sold on these candidates and suggesting you would vote on, only 1 in 3 were positive they won't change their minds which means, of course, 2/3 could be changeable? >> it's really interesting because, you know, we've seen so many other people rise to the top and then fall, you know, michelle bachmann, rick perry, herman cain and now newt gingrich so does that mean that newt gingrich will also fall and mitt romney will come to the top or newt gingrich will stay at the top? if you ask newt gingrich, he's pretty confident about what's going to happen to him. >> i'm going to be the nominee. i mean, it's very hard not to look at the recent polls and think that the odds are very high that i'll be the nominee. and by the way, i don't object if people want to attack me. that's their right. i'm suggesting it's not going to be very effect

the latest poll by scott rasmussen shows this race continues to evolve almost daily. o jumped up to a 10-15-point lead is now in a plea-way tie. a rasmussen poll shows mitt romney is back in the lead. newt gingrich is inecond place and paul in third. but they are all bunched together in the margin of error. this could end up with a three-way tie. though one candidate may get a few more votes than the other, there won't be the kind of momentum coming out. with that being said newt gingrich recognizes he is short on money, short on organization compared to his rivals and earlier today we saw what all candidates do at this event, make a pitch for caucus-goers to back them up just a couple weeks from now. listen. >> i do need your help january 3. i know there are a ton of negative ads. but i'm not going to spend my time on that stuff. i'll talk about positive solutions and a positive way. >> reporter: what's interesting about mr. gingrich's pitch to voters is he talks about how's going to run a different campaign with broad sweeping ideas and how he needs people to be with

new polling by scott rasmussen out by noon.drug cartels are targeting drug rehab centers. go to foxnews.com/"happening now," click on the america's asking tab to weigh in. coming up skwhra. uma: we look forward to it. it can be tough to stay in shape when you're a woman under a certain height. our next guest has the formula, though. gregg: a point sized patriot honoring our men and women in uniform. >> he will come up and see you, he sees the soldiers and greets them, and he'll give you a piece of candy and say, thank you so much for your service. and i said, oh, he's so cute. gregg: a little boy in georgia making a big impact on soldiers returning from the front lines. 9-year-old cody jackson personally meets and greets troops arriving alternate the atlanta airport. he says his message is simple. >> i thank them for protecting us and risking their lives, they are fighting for us and our freedom and our country. gregg: we love you cody. his mom says he plans on joining the military when he grows up. good for you. uma: listen up

this is what scott rasmussen found in iowa yesterday. among republicans, 52% say today they could still change their mind. >> yep. bill: what in the world explains that 18 days away. >> no one candidate has so captured them, has made them say i have a yard sign in my front yard, my sticker is on my car, and i'm going to vote for my guy no matter what. two things could happen, it could be the lower turn out which means the candidate who has the intensity of voters win. that's when ron paul supporters will surprise people. rick santorum will splice som surprise people. i'm not saying he's going to win. bill: there are a lot of people who listen to you. will you endorse. >> no. if i walked into the voting booth right now i'm not sure i would vote for. they are all friends, i know them all. every one of them i think would be a better president from my spe perspective than the one i have now and i'm going to support whoever is out there. i haven't decided that one of them is head and shoulders above the others and that i'm ready to close the

chris stirewalt and scott rasmussen join us in moments. huge news for the gingrich campaign. for the romney campaign, not so much. stay tuned. >>> another fox news alert, a new and dire warning over europe's debt crisis. a top banker there says that there are just seven working days left right now to prevent the collapse of that continent's common currency known as the euro. and now there are new calls for the international monetary fund to come to the rescue with fistfuls of your money. that's where we begin this show today. welcome to "america live," everybody, i'm megyn kelly. these latest developments come as the french president gave a critical speech on the crisis that began just moments ago, the remarks did. we'll bring that news to you as it happens, we're monoto having -- monitoring it. but we are now hearing new worries about europe's ability to head off a financial meltdown that would seriously impact the united states and world economies. the white house says it is busy working the phones, and president obama last night said he is, quote, cautiously optimistic tha

anyway, wait until you guys hear what scott rasmussen has just found in his latest polling out of iowawill stun you. also democrats, are they conceding on the tax issue and the keystone pipeline at the same time? guess what putin is saying about senator mccain? john mccain is here live to react and is your doctor texting while he or she should be giving you the attention? martha and i will see you in ten minutes on "america's newsroom" ♪ that's good morning, veggie style. hmmm [ male announcer ] for half the calories -- plus veggie nutrition. could've had a v8. lugging around a hot water extraction unit can be a rush! that's why i'm carpet for life. but if things get out hand, there's no shame in calling us. ♪call 1-800-steemer. where they grow america's favorite wpotoes. idaho, everyone knows idaho potatoes taste great. but did you know they'reood for you too? they're high in vitamins and potassium. and idaho potatoes are now certified to carry the heart checkmark from the american heart assoction for foods low in saturated fat and cholesterol. so they're good for my family, and for y