A majority of Massachusetts voters disapprove of Gov. Deval Patrick's job performance and would prefer electing someone else in 2010, according to a Suffolk University poll conducted Nov. 4 through 8.

Fifty-one percent of voters disapprove of the job Patrick is doing in his first term, including majorities of Republicans and independents; 42 percent approve. Just 32 percent of voters think Patrick deserves to be re-elected, wile 55 percent say it is time to elect someone else. The margin of error is 4 percent.

Patrick, however, leads in a three-way race against independent Tim Cahill, the state's current treasurer, and either of two prospective Republican candidates. Against Republican businessman Christy Mihos, Patrick takes 36 percent of the vote while Cahill nabs 26 percent and Mihos comes in at 20 percent. Eighteen percent remain undecided.

Arkansas Sen. Blanche Lincoln registers no higher than 41 percent and trails four prospective Republican challengers among likely voters in hypothetical match-ups, according to a Rasmussen Reports poll conducted Sept. 28. The margin of error is 4.5 percent.

State Sen. Gilbert Baker, who declared his candidacy earlier this month, is the only one of the Republicans with a statistically significant lead over Lincoln, who is seeking a third term in 2010 - 47 percent to 39 percent. State Senate Minority Leader Kim Hendren leads Lincoln 44 percent to 41 percent, while Tom Cox, head of the Arkansas T.E.A. Party is up 43 to 40 percent and Curtis Coleman, CEO of Safe Foods Corp., leads 43 to 41 percent.

John Oxendine, Georgia's insurance commissioner, leads among Republican candidates in the state's 2010 race for governor, while former Gov. Roy Barnes leads the Democratic field, according to a Strategic Vision poll of likely voters conducted Sept. 18-20.

But the large number of undecided respondents reported by the survey means it may be premature to label those candidates as the odds-on favorites for their parties' nominations in the open-seat race.

Oxendine led six other candidates for the July primary with 38 percent. Undecided respondents made up the second-largest group surveyed with 25 percent. Among the other contenders, Georgia Secretary of State Karen Handel received 15 percent and Rep. Nathan Deal received 10 percent. Four other Republicans split the remainder in the poll, which has a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.

Republican John Oxendine, and Democratic former Gov. Roy Barnes were leading the early running in Georgia's gubernatorial primaries in an Aug. 21-23 Strategic Vision, poll.

But it's still early -- the parties aren't picking their nominees until July 20, 2010 -- and many voters remain undecided, the poll of 800 likely voters shows.

Oxendine, the state insurance commissioner, was the potential GOP primary choice of 39 percent of the Republicans surveyed, while Rep. Nathan Deal was preferred by 13 percent; Georgia Secretary of State Karen Handel, 12 percent; state Sen. Eric Johnson, 6 percent, and two additional GOP candidates received marginal support. A total of 25 percent of respondents indicated they were undecided in the GOP primary.

Democrat Blanche Lincoln will have to address a serious popularity slump back home as she gears up her 2010 bid for a third Senate term in Arkansas. Lincoln held a 36 percent job approval rating, to 44 percent disapproval, in an Aug. 21-24 Public Policy Polling survey of Arkansas voters.

The same survey showed Lincoln just neck-and-neck, or even slightly trailing, when matched up against three potential Republican challengers -- even though none of those GOP contenders is well known statewide.

Lincoln trailed by 41 percent to 40 percent in a hypothetical matchup with Curtis Coleman, CEO of Safe Foods Corp., a company based in North Little Rock that provides services to food processing companies; 19 percent of respondents said they were undecided. That virtual tie came about even though 80 percent of respondents indicated they didn't know Coleman well enough to form an opinion of him.

Democratic Gov. Deval Patrick continues to lose support in Massachusetts, a Rasmussen Reports poll conducted Aug. 20 finds. Patrick now trails potential Republican challenger Christy Mihos.

In June, the same hypothetical matchup showed the governor with 41 percent to the businessman's 40 percent. The new poll showed Mihos holding steady, favored by 40 percent of those surveyed, but the incumbent falling to 35 percent.

In another hypthetical matchup, Patrick is in a dead heat with health care executive Charlie Baker, edging him by a statistically insignificant 40 percent to 39 percent, but in June that same matchup showed Baker trailing 41 percent to 36 percent.

This run-up year to Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick's re-election campaign has been rough on the Democratic incumbent, as his struggles with the state's recession-plagued economy and other issues have hurt his standing with state votes. And the latest Boston Globe/University of New Hampshire Survey Center poll released Monday was just more bad news, as his job approval ratings hit a new low point.

Just 35 percent of the respondents said they approve of the job Patrick is doing, while 56 percent disapprove.

One of the major sources of Patrick's growing unpopularity, the Globe noted, is his perceived failure to reform state government, as he promised in his 2006 campaign. Sixty-two percent of respondents said Patrick has not brought reform to the state, while just 25 percent believe he has.

First-term Democratic Gov. Deval Patrick is looking vulnerable in Massachusetts where, when matched against two Republicans in 2010, he is statistically tied with one and has a modest lead over the other, according to a Rasmussen Reports poll conducted June 24.

Christy Mihos who ran against Patrick as an independent in 2006 and garnered only 7 percent of the vote, polls 41 percent to Patrick's 40 percent with 10 percent preferring some other candidate and 9 percent undecided. Mihos has hired veteran political consultant Dick Morris for his campaign, this time as a Republican.

Sen. Johnny Isakson is looking a mite vulnerable as the 2010 election season begins, according a Research 2000 poll for the Daily Kos that shows possible challengers close on his heels.

The Georgia Republican was paired against several possible Senate contenders, including former Democratic Gov. Roy Barnes and Democratic Rep. Jim Marshall. According to the poll of registered voters conducted April 27-29, Isakson would pull 47 percent of the vote against Barnes' 43 percent if the election were held this week, while doing better against Marshall, 48 percent to 40 percent.

The poll also found Isakson's "favorable" ratings to be about 47 percent.

Arkansas Democratic Sen. Blanche Lincoln, now in her second term, makes what Public Policy Polling calls a "tepid" showing in a survey conducted March 20-22, with a job approval rating and a lead over potential challengers that indicate she may be vulnerable in 2010.

Forty-five percent approve of her performance compared to 40 percent who do not with 15 percent undecided. She does badly among independents (29 percent of the sample) who disapprove of her performance by 50 percent to 31 percent.