As President Obama navigates his way through a series of issues as controversial as they are vital, he's getting a yellow flag from the American people. For the first time since Obama took office, fewer than half of Americans agree with the president on issues important to them, according to a CNN/Opinion Research Corp. poll released Tuesday. A majority, 51 percent, disagree -- a jump of 10 percentage points since April. Despite the majority disagreement on issues, the poll also ...

Nearly nine in 10 Americans say they think Iran is trying to develop nuclear weapons, according to a new national poll. Eighty-eight percent of those questioned in a CNN/Opinion Research Corp. survey released Tuesday say the Iranian government is attempting to develop nuclear weapons. But it appears that's where agreement ends as the survey indicates there's little consensus on the best approach to addressing the situation -- though the poll does suggest a military response is not as popular as ...

After decades of coddling military dictators in Pakistan, Washington wants a different relationship with its key partner in the war against al-Qaeda. The Kerry-Lugar Act which has passed the Senate, after a similar bill passed in the House last month, would provide $7.5 billion in nonmilitary aid over the next five years, in an ambitious plan to counter widespread anti-American sentiment there by helping Pakistan's civilian government deliver essential services to its population. Unlike previous no-strings aid packages, Kerry-Lugar ...

Switzerland's largest city has permitted the use of controversial posters which call for a ban on the construction of minarets on mosques in the European country. The posters are part of a campaign by the nationalist Swiss People's Party (SVP) and feature a veiled woman against a background of a Swiss flag pierced by several minarets resembling missiles. The cities of Basel and Lausanne have described the posters as racist and banned them in publicly-owned spaces. However, Zurich is among ...

Just hours before the start of the second presidential debate, a new national survey suggests that Sen. Barack Obama is making gains among Americans as a compassionate candidate. That could be important in the debate in Nashville, which is a town hall-style meeting with the candidates fielding questions from undecided voters in the audience. In a new CNN/Opinion Research Corporation poll out Tuesday afternoon, 55 percent of registered voters questioned say that Obama "cares more about people like you" ...

Support for the war in Afghanistan is at an all-time low, according to a new national poll. A CNN/Opinion Research Corp. survey released Tuesday morning indicates that 39 percent of Americans favor the war in Afghanistan, with 58 percent opposed to the mission. Support is down from 53 percent in April, marking the lowest level since the start of the U.S. military mission in Afghanistan soon after the September 11, 2001, attacks. The poll suggests that 23 percent of ...

Despite the drop in President Obama's approval ratings, Republican policies are still not as popular as Democratic policies, according to a new national poll. A CNN/Opinion Research Corporation survey released Friday morning indicates the GOP has gained some ground in polls in recent months, but Democrats still hold the advantage on key issues such as the economy and health care. Fifty-two percent of people questioned say the president's policies will move the country in the right direction. An equal percentage ...

The United States has a limited amount of time to show Afghans and Americans success in turning around a war in Afghanistan that is facing declining support, according to the top Pentagon leadership. Defense Secretary Robert Gates, speaking to reporters at a Pentagon news conference Thursday, said he does not believe that the U.S. should pull out of the country and fight a battle from afar with unmanned drones and small special operations forces, a plan suggested by an influential ...

An interview with a choreographer for the Miss Universe pageant spurred controversy Wednesday over alleged claims that Donald Trump personally selects some of the finalists. The Q&A with Michael Schwandt, which appeared on Guanabee.com, quotes him as saying that "it's just kind of common knowledge that [Trump] picks six of the top 15 single-handedly." "And, his reason for doing so, as he told me and he's told the girls before, is that he left it all up to preliminary judging ...

The following five sites have proven the most consistently useful for the editors of Budget Travel, who do thousands of searches a year. Dohop.com Strictly for booking plane trips entirely outside of the U.S., such as a flight between Paris and Rome. The site runs simultaneous searches of multiple airports serving the same city -- five airports in London, for instance -- and it retrieves fares from no-frills independent carriers like EasyJet and Ryanair, which many better-known travel sites overlook. ...