Rydal-Meadowbrook Civic Association

More voters favor than oppose Mitt Romney’s proposal for an across-the-board 20-percent cut in federal income tax rates according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll. But there’s an even split on his call to repeal the landmark health-care law passed in 2010.

The Pew Research Center’s latest detailed study of survey quality paints a worrisome picture for survey response rates, but again shows that a well-done telephone poll — even one with response rates in the high single-digits — accurately represent the U.S. population on a broad range of political and demographic measures.

Voters divide straight down the middle on President Obama’s recent statement that he supports allowing gays and lesbians to get married, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll.

As with the issue itself, views of the president’s major announcement last week are closely related to partisanship, education and age, with Democrats, more highly educated and younger adults generally supportive of Obama’s move. But there also a twist to the latest breakdowns: although African Americans typically oppose gay marriage, most in the new poll have favorable impressions of Obama’s support of it.

Use the interactive below to see how different groups have changed (or not) their views on gay marriage in recent years.

A dissection of voting groups in Virginia shows President Obama holding together key parts of his 2008 coalition. Mitt Romney has some ground to cover to match or exceed John McCain’s 2008 performance in several areas, according to a new Washington Post Virginia poll.

Republicans are crying foul over a new campaign ad from President Obama taking credit for dispatching Osama bin Laden one year ago — and for marking the occasion with a surprise journey to Afghanistan yesterday to mark the occasion. George W. Bush, of course, was the subject of similar criticism (though from Democrats, of course) after his 2004 campaign ads featured flashbacks to the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. At that time, most Americans thought such tactics were inappropriate. But just as with the latest round of commentary, it all depends on who’s the hero.

Sports fans of all stripes have something to be happy about this time of year, with the NBA and NHL playoffs in full swing, baseball back in season and NASCAR revving its collective engines.

Professional baseball emerges as the winner, however. Two-thirds of all Americans hold favorable opinions of the sport, lifting the national pastime above the other three, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll.

Sen. Marco Rubio’s (R-Fla.) potential to court Hispanic voters is fueling speculation that Mitt Romney will pick him as a running mate. And his effort to develop an alternative to the DREAM Act is drawing attention, as the Republican Party seeks to reverse its losing dynamic among Hispanic voters, who supported Barack Obama by more than 2 to 1 in 2008.

The United Nations has never been America’s most popular institution, and it has received its worst ratings on record in the past decade. It’s derided as giving a platform for two-bit dictators and being a useless, inefficient bureaucracy — see John Bolton’s famous quote (“The secretariat building in New York has 38 stories. If you lost 10 stories today, it wouldn’t make a bit of difference.”). To make matters worse, the United Nations is often tasked with the remit of solving the world’s most intractable problems — from ending poverty to stopping wars.

Wine and cheese rather than beer and brats might be the celebration of choice for Capitals fans in the wake of their first-round playoff victory over the Boston Bruins. Syndicated research as well as polling from The Washington Post shows that Caps fans are the most upscale in terms of education and income of the four major professional teams in the Washington area.

Arizona’s immigration law — slated to be heard Wednesday by the Supreme Court — has stirred up accusations of racism, conference boycotts and a strident legal challenge from the Obama administration. Despite all the controversy, the judgment from poll after poll is clear: Americans like the law. A lot.

President Obama and Mitt Romney -- his likely competitor for the country’s top job -- have one thing in common: they are both less popular than their wives.

In a new Washington Post-ABC News poll, first lady Michelle Obama continues to check in with a sky-high favorable rating of 69 percent, well above our latest read on the president himself.

Gas price spikes have the potential to focus American voters on global issues like limited oil supply, potential conflicts in the Middle East and economic growth in China and India. Indeed, economists point to all three of these as key factors in gas prices.

Mitt Romney’s favorable numbers among Republicans have shot to a record high, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll conducted after Rick Santorum dropped out of the presidential contest a week ago.

More than three years after its inception, the tea party continues to attract support from more than four in 10 Americans. But a new Washington Post-ABC News poll finds waning interest in the political movement and a drop in the number of women giving positive reviews of its message.

With Major League Baseball and the hometown Nationals now in the full swing of spring, a recent study from Scarborough Sports Marketing finds about half of American adults and 44 percent of “Generation Y” adults are “fans” of the big leagues, with about 15 percent of all adults and 13 percent of younger adults labeled “avid fans.”

Mitt Romney plans to challenge President Obama broadly on foreign policy this year, and the presumptive Republican nominee will probably deliver a major address on the topic in April or May. If he is to convince voters that he would be better than Obama on the world stage, he has a steep hill to climb.

Rick Santorum, the former Pennsylvania senator and leading stumbling block to Mitt Romney’s path to the GOP nomination, announced Tuesday he will suspend his presidential campaign. Republicans and independents who lean to the GOP were ambivalent toward the prospect of this move, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll with interviews concluding on Sunday, two days before the announcement.

Let the VP auditions begin.

Ohio Republican Sen. Rob Portman will stump for Mitt Romney in Pennsylvania on Thursday, two days after the former Massachusetts governor’s closest rival in the presidential race, former senator Rick Santorum, announced that he was suspending his bid for the nomination.

More than four in 10 Americans see themselves as belonging to the middle class, and a new Washington Post-ABC News poll finds that if the 2012 election were held today, they would split 50 percent for President Obama vs. 46 percent for Mitt Romney.