i want to bring in my great fend, scott rasmussen. he's got brand-new poll out today. this is big stuff. mitt romney has now moved to 50% and seems to be pulling away from president obama. now, scott, this is a top front page story, you're telling me. 50% means romney can win, and he's got a seven-point lead. what's going on here? >> well, i think the biggest thing we're seeing in this poll is the message we've been talking about all along. it is still all about the economy. the numbers started shifting in romney's direction last friday, right after that jobs report came out. the more there was economic news that suggests there are reasons to be concerned, the more it helps mitt romney. i don't think he's pulling away right now. i think he's at the upper end of a range, but i think when the focus is on the economy right now, mitt romney's prospects are as good as they're going to be. >> 50% approval rating says he might get 50% in the election. now, here's the deal. >> that's right. >> right? i mean, you taught me that. other people have taught me that. the other thing

ace pollster scott rasmussen of rasmussen reports. scott, welcome back to the show. it's a great pleasure to see you. >> great to be with you, larry. >> according to the latest consumer polling data, this to me is staggering. you're saying 62% of consumers actually think the u.s. is still in recession. can you tell us about that? >> first of all, we asked this question every night when we measure consumer confidence. and every single night for the last four years, for even longer, a majority of americans have said we're in a recession. they're a little bit less pessimistic now than they were a year or two ago. but they're more pessimistic than they were a couple of months ago. lots of thing are driving the concern. one i think was highlighted by the adp report today, the number of people who have jobs who are worried about losing them has grown to the highest level in six months. >> and scott, you write also that the housing market is depressing america. and lord knows team obama has thrown all these temporary quick fix things at housing. none of it seems to work. yo

scott rasmussen is an independent pollster, he's president of rasmussen.com. k at all of this scott, nice to see you again. >> great to see you. the race is very close no matter how you look at it. our daily presidential tracking poll shows president obama at 46%, governor romney at 45%. jenna: scott, how does that compare, you know, over the last venth, two months or so? been seeing, or you've been seeing in some of your polling? >> the numbers bounce a round a little bit. a couple of weeks ago governor romney had a good week an was up a little bit. a couple of weeks before that president obama was up by a fair amount. but generally both candidates are stuck in this mid 40 percent range. we talk about all the demographics. the president does better among younger voters and women and romney has his core groups, white working class democrats are a swing constituency. the real numbers we should be focusing on are the economy. the changes in the economy, what's happening in the stock market, what is happening in the employment market, these are going to determine

let's bring in scott rasmussen. good to see you.g is the president held a lead in the swing states? >> well, he's been narrowly ahead now for several weeks. these numbers are close because the race nationally is close. you got to put this in perspective. they have 75 electoral college votes. if mitt romney wins all four action he'll probably be president. if barak obama picks off one, what's a good chance of keeping his job and if he wins two, he's certainly to be relie detectorred. but people are getting so wrapped up in these counts, they're missing the bigger picture. there is still a long way to go. if yesterday's jobs report is an indicator of things to come and the economic news is bad for the next few months, the president's numbers will go down in the core four states and nationally. he will have a hard time winning. if the economic indicators move back up, he's very likely to keep his job. >> heather: scott, it's hard to believe, but one week ago or one year ago this past week, we recognized taking down osama bin laden. our

thanks so much, scott rasmussen. always great to talk to you. nk you, you, too. >> heather: thank you, scott. we appreciate it. >> gregg: stay tuned for the president's statement. it will be momentarily from camp david. he's been meeting with the g8 nations there. top of their agenda, what to do about the eurozone and the crisis, the economic crisis in several of the countries there, greece and spain of the that's going to do it for us. >> heather: we will carry that for you live. rick folbaum and arthel neville take over at the top of the hour. we'll see you tomorrow. right? >> gregg: right, 4:00 o'clock. >> heather: bye-bye most life insurance companies look at you and just see a policy. at aviva, we do things differently. we're bringing humanity back to life insurance. that's why only aviva rewards you with savings for getting a check-up. it's our wellness for life program, with online access to mayo clinic. see the difference at avivausa.com. [ male announcer ] you're at the age where you don't get thrown by curveballs. ♪ this is the age of k

scott rasmussen is president of rasmussen reports and joins us live from orange county, california. nd from the last time i checked on these daily polling data, right? >> that's right. in fact, we saw governor romney begin to pick up some ground right after that jobs report came out a week ago. a little bit of disappointing. the key issue in this race is still the economy. and i think that brought up extra concern. and then the president created his own stir this week with his comments on same-sex marriage. i think what we're seeing mostly is a reaction to the economic news. >> and scott, apparently the economy could be a big driver in those numbers, as would be expected? >> right. that's right. if you look back over the last month, what we see is a month ago people were evenly divided as to whether the president was doing a good job or poor job on the economy. now the numbers have swung again. consumer confidence down just a little bit over the past week. if perceptions of the economy get worse, president obama will lose this election. if perceptions of the economy improve, he will

independent pollster scott rasmussen is the president of rasmussen reports..com. of the margin of error it really is a tie, too close to call, right, scott. >> absolutely, especially with six months to go before election today. in the last week and a half mitt romney has been doing consistently a little better than he was beforehand. that jobs report a week ago friday clearly had some -- raised some concerns about the economy and i think that is helping romney's cause. jon: it was a week ago yesterday that the state of north carolina voted to ban gay marriage. the very next day the president of the united states comes out and says he thinks gay marriage is okay. the voters of north carolina, well what do they think about this race, the democrat particular convention is going to be held there. it doesn't look so good for the president right now in that state. >> right now mitt romney is ahead 51% to 43%. that is a big improvement for romney from a month ago. it's worth noting that the president's numbers did not go down, his support stayed steady, but mitt romney's

scott rasmussen is an independent pollster, president of rasmussen reports.com, he joins us now with ew polls of his own. these are hot off the presses, scott. i know that we have said this is a tight race and your daily tracking poll proves it. >> sure does. as of this morning, it's 45 percent for obama, 45 percent for romney. jon, if you look back over the last 16 days, romney has been up by a point or two, seven times, obama has been up by a point or two, seven times, and they've be tied twice. it doesn't get any closer. jon: you asked an interesting question of voters this time around. you asked are barack obama and mitt romney the best two people to be running for president. only 19 percent said yes. clearly, there's dissatisfaction in both parties with this slate of candidates. >> well, there is. it's a little bit like asking is your own representative in congress the best person for the jobful only about one out of four americans say yes. but perhaps a better way tong of it is if we had asked back in january are the new york giants and the new england patriots the best two team

independent pollster scos rasmussen -- scott rasmussen of rasmussen reports joins us.s been very tight. >> absolutely. in fact if you go back in the last seven weeks of our tracking poll, every single day, president obama's support has been within two points of the 45 percent mark and every single day, mitt romney has been within three points of the 46 percent mark. that means the virtualo it's a virtual tossup and yes the numbers bounce around a bit from day to day. the key is there's about 10 percent who won't commit to either candidate at this point in time, they're not impressed with their option and sooner or later they're likely to decide who they think is the lesser of two evils, but this race as we sit here today, very, very close. harris: let's take another look at something else you found out in your polling and it's interesting, because if your house were rated this way, you'd be under water, 49 percent, those who disapprove of the job approval rating, 50 percent -- he has far more disapproving but when you press ahead, i think it's interesting, and tell us

people call it class warfare, but pollster scott rasmussen says i am wrong.e doesn't really work? >> certainly if you say somebody is getting away with something, people tonight like that. that works. if you can convince people getting away with something that is really powerful. the reason calling for higher taxes on wealthy works today is because most people think higher income people pay a smaller share on their taxes than anybody else. people don't want to soak the rich but they want to make sure that everybody pays the same. >> john: most people rich people pay more in taxes actually pay less. >> right. part of sit skepticism about anything to do with government. part simplify it if you are rich enough you can hire a good accountant to get you special benefits. some of that is true, but in numbers, it's a lie. two out of three people believe middle-class pay more in taxes, a large number of people that make less than them are paying less than their fair share. >> john: fair share? >> more than 30% for anybody in america to pay to all governments, federal

people call it class warfare, but pollster scott rasmussen says i am wrong.e doesn't really work? >> certainly if you say somebody is getting away with something, people tonight like that. that works. if you can convince people getting away with something that is really powerful. the reason calling for higher taxes on wealthy works today is because most people think higher income people pay a smaller share on their taxes than anybody else. people don't want to soak the rich but they want to make sure that everybody pays the same. >> john: most people rich people pay more in taxes actually pay less. >> right. part of sit skepticism about anything to do with government. part simplify it if you are rich enough you can hire a good accountant to get you special benefits. some of that is true, but in numbers, it's a lie. two out of three people believe middle-class pay more in taxes, a large number of people that make less than them are paying less than their fair share. >> john: fair share? >> more than 30% for anybody in america to pay to all governments, federal

scott rasmussen. thanks. martha: this is the political talk of the day right now.itt romney is responding to new attacks from president obama's re-election campaign. life with julia it is called. it is a slide show shows how president obama's policies would help a hypothetical women from age 3. see the little cartoon prediction of julia. gets head start program and 18 she is ready for college. her parents are able to get at $10,000 tax credit from the government to help there. at 31 she decides to have a child. president obama's health care law helps her get regular checkups and free screening during the pregnancy process. all slides at bottom of navy blue area. they claim the opposite for romney administration, saying all of these things offered under obama would be taken away from you by mitt romney. and they have reacted to that as well. joined by the president of momentum analysis llc. that is democratic public opinion research firm. and ford o'connell. is a former campaign advisor to john mccain's presidential campaign and chairman of the civic forum pac. welc

scott rasmussen is president of rasmussen reports, christ stierwalt is also here with political analysis, he's our fox news digital politicsay on . scott, let me start with you. i read these polls and there are several you went through and i'm feeling a little depressed! is that how you felt? >> it is. i'm sorry to depress you megyn! what we're seeing in the short term perceptions is what we've seen in lots of data. people are feeling better than they did in 2011 but not as good as they were earlier in the year and by the way, democrats feel better about where things are gone thank republicans. not big surprise there. but in the long term numbers, 44 percent say the u.s. economy will berom now. five years out. that's the lowest level of optimism we've ever measured and to give you a sense of scale on this, back in january 2009 when president obama took office, we were in the midst of a wall street meltdown and the auto industries appeared to be just slipping away and even then, 62 percent said that in five years, the economy would be stronger. so we're seeing an 18-point decline over the

scott rasmussen is president of rasmussen reports and joins us now. know the conversation has always been if ron paul stays in the race he's going to spoil things for the gop. that's not what you found out. what do the numbers really tell us? >> we have to provide a little context. only 6% say it's likely that ron paul will enter. this is largely hypothetical at this point in time. what this tells us is that ron paul takes support from both mitt romney and president obama and he also picks up some support from those who say they couldn't vote for either man. the results don't change that much. that surprises people, but we found the exact same die nam hick foudynamic four years ago when we pulled ron paul in the obama mccain match up. jenna: did he get in the double digits but below 20%? >> yes. jenna: i was curious about that 13% whether or not as a pollster you thought that was still significant, it seems like he is still in there, which he is, by the way officially in the race. >> typically third party candidates do better early in the circle and t

here is stu varney and scott rasmussen, independent pollster and author of "the people's money."tu, how worried should the white house be about these numbers? >> that question are you better off goes to the heart of the president's problem it's a question but, the man yib the spend power in your pocket, it's about the housing market. this is not some fansy wall street jargon, stocks and bonds and earnings per share. on those three issues you are not better off than you were four years ago. the spending power of the money in your pocket has gone down largely because of high energy and food prices. the rate of job creation is cut in half. there are half a million paychecks fewer than there were four years ago and as for your house, prices are down 30% from where we were four years ago. a quarter of the people with a mortgage cannot refinance because they are under water. you add it up and you are not better off than you were four years ago. you have lost a degree of financial freedom. that's a problem for president obama. shannon: you asked folks, who do they trust more on the econ

scott rasmussen is an independent pollster and president of last newsen.com.he choices before them. is that on both sides of the aisle? >> it's stronger on the republican side. but only 30% of democrats are happy with the choices. there are factions within both parties. there are some democrats that think hillary clinton or somebody else would be better. there are republicans who think somebody more conservative would be better. it does come down to a choice between romney and obama, no matter what people think of that option. megyn: you asked them flat out, do you believe it' a choice between the lesser of two evils. and they said it was 44% say they are excited. 46% say i'm just voting for the lesser of two evils. is this just a comment about poll nicks america? >> on this one there is a big partisan divide. two out of three democrats say they are excited about voting for their candidate. most republicans and unaffiliated voters say it's a choice between the lesser of two evils. republicans are more excited about the election. the intensity is still with the

we have brand-new poll numbers from scott rasmussen about how you fellow americans are thinking.bers and how they could have a major impact on the white house race. wake up! that's good morning, veggie style. hmmm. fohalf the calories plus vgie nutrition. could've had a v8. or annuity over 10 or even 20 years? call imperial structured settlements. the experts at imperial can convert your long-term payout into a lump sum of cash today. jenna: for all sports fans out there there's nothing like high heat to the rib phos a warm welcome to the big leagues, philly's pitcher cole handle, learning his punishment for plucking bryce hearp. rick, the phillies! >> and he was one of my favorite and five games. that's what he's got. not really much of a punishment. starting pitchers only play once every five days but hey, hammill is being fined, too, we don't know how much. most of it is symbolic, he drills bryce harper with a 93-mile per hour pitch in the lower back, harper taking his base, eventually moving to third and then stealing home. there's an unwritten code in baseball that dictates

. >>> scott thompson's arrival created quite a mess when it was revealed he padded his resume. eric rasmussen tells us about the changes at the top. >> reporter: the news of scott thompson's exit was hardly a shock at silican valley. >> i think it was inevitable that he was going to step down. >> it took a while. i thought they were going to make this decision faster than that. >> reporter: thompson's resume included a computer science degree one he never earned. yahoo says ron levinson will become interim ceo. after a meeting this morning yahoo announced a settlement with his largest shareholder third point adding three new board members. in a statement about the changes yahoo's new chairman said the board is competent they will serve the best interest of our shareholders and further accelerate the advances the company has made since last august. but some experts say any recent games are jeopardized by this latest misstep in a long series of mistakes by the internet giant. >> yahoo is a very important company to both silican valley and the over all internet. it would be a shame to see it los