Public Opinion

Neither side can drown out the other. Both so far are exercising a measure of restraint. But as authorities try to rein in Iran's most serious unrest since the Islamic Revolution, they face a diverse opposition united in its rejection of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and his policies.

In the state's continuing political battles over gay marriage, both sides are targeting Latino voters, and a new Los Angeles Times poll illustrates why. Overall, the poll showed a majority of voters in Los Angeles support the right of same-sex couples to legally marry, with 56% in favor and 37% opposed. That finding closely tracked results of November's election, when Proposition 8, which limited marriage to a man and a woman, won statewide but lost in Los Angeles.

After a summer of healthcare battles and sliding approval ratings for President Obama, the White House is facing a troubling new trend: The voters losing faith in the president are the ones he had worked hardest to attract. New surveys show steep declines in Obama's approval ratings among whites -- including Democrats and independents -- who were crucial elements of the diverse coalition that helped elect the country's first black president. Among white Democrats, Obama's job approval rating has dropped 11 points since his 100-days mark in April, according to surveys by the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press.

There's been much hand-wringing over the federal government's relationship with General Motors now that Uncle Sam owns 60% of the company. But the situation is no less troublesome for consumers, who, as taxpayers, will share in GM's fate. As owners of the company, are we obliged to buy its products to maximize the value of our investment? Put another way, are we now hurting ourselves any time we buy non-GM vehicles?

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's popularity sank this month as the state budget crisis worsened, but Californians overwhelmingly approve of President Obama's job performance, according to a new poll. Schwarzenegger's dismal ratings come amid a conservative backlash over $12.5 billion in tax hikes that he pressured fellow Republican lawmakers to join Democrats in passing last week.

Many Pakistanis welcomed the election of President Obama as an opportunity for some fresh thinking about their troubled region. But the honeymoon hasn't lasted long. As Obama prepares to meet with Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari and Afghan President Hamid Karzai this week in Washington, Pakistanis from different walks of life say they'd give the U.S. leader an earful if they, rather than their president, had a seat at the White House table.

For seven years, President Bush has been a distant defender of Israel, working from Washington to tilt America's policies in the Middle East more firmly behind its longtime ally. When he arrives here Wednesday on his first presidential visit, however, Bush will find an ambivalent Israeli public. It is appreciative of his efforts, yet critical of U.S. setbacks that have made the region feel more threatening. No recent president has been less involved in Israeli-Palestinian negotiations than Bush.

If this story turned up on daytime TV, audiences would never believe it: The reformist president of France, on the rebound from his October divorce, is about take a new wife -- an Italian tire heiress and former supermodel who looks a lot like the ex, and who dated Eric Clapton, whom she dumped for Mick Jagger when he was still married to Jerry Hall, and who later married a long-haired French intellectual nearly 10 years her junior after living with his father, nearly 20 years her senior.

Heather and Andy Collins, both independent voters, are a house divided -- torn between Sens. Barack Obama, the Illinois Democrat, and John McCain, the Arizona Republican. "Those are the two candidates we feel can work [with both parties] and get things done," said Andy Collins, a carpenter. The couple said each of them could vote for either Obama or McCain -- but after watching Obama on television and hearing McCain speak in the town square on Monday, they may end up splitting the difference.

Don't look for much food from cloned animals or their offspring at your neighborhood supermarket or restaurant any time soon. Despite the Food and Drug Administration's declaration that such meat and milk are safe to eat, it is going to take years for ranchers to produce and raise the animals. Even then, many of the nation's biggest grocers say they are dead set against selling it.