If you're feeling sour this morning, this poll will suit your mood perfectly. Public Policy Polling took a run at 2012 and got back a thumbs-down on every name on the list.

If a presidential election had taken place last weekend (PPP's automated telephone survey was taken March 12-14), here's how President Obama would have done against a few of the better-known Republicans:

• Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels 34 percent, Obama 45 percent.

• Former Alaska Gov Sarah Palin 41 percent, Obama 49 percent.

• Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee 44 percent, Obama 46 percent.

• Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney 44 percent, Obama 44 percent.

The margin of error was 2.6 percentage points, so Huckabee fans can consider their guy in just as much of a tie as Romney.

Every one of those names was viewed negatively by the people polled.

Even if you don't like reading about polls, you may enjoy checking this one out.

The Pew Research Center asked 749 Americans to offer just one word to describe their current impressions of Congress.

Turns out no one word dominated the list, but the sentiment was consistent:

Dysfunctional (chosen 21 times.)

Corrupt (20)

Self-serving, self-centered or selfish (19)

Inept (16)

Confused, confusing, confusion (15) was tied with incompetent, ineffective and lazy

And some of the terms were just insulting. Check it out here to see the full list.

Meanwhile, the latest Gallup tracking poll finds Congress' approval rating at a skimpy 16 percent.

A recent survey on the special election in Pennsylvania's 12th district shows a competitive race between Democrat Mark Critz, a former aide to the late Rep. John P. Murtha (D-Pa.), and GOP businessman Tim Burns.

Critz lead Burns, 36 to 31 percent, in the district that boasts a large Democratic registration advantage. Also according to the district-wide poll, 31 percent of voters were undecided about who they would choose to succeed Murtha in the May 18 special election.

The same poll also showed voters would like pick Critz as their Democratic nominee on May 18, which is also the same day as the statewide primary. Critz lead the field with 30 percent, while none of the other Democrats -- Navy Veteran Ryan Bucchianeri, Cambria Co. Controller Ed Cernic and attorney Ron Mackell -- did not individually score more than four points in the survey. There were 59 percent of voters undecided.

Burns appears to also be in a dead heat with 2008 GOP nominee Bill Russell, whom he defeated to get the nomination. Russell lead Burns, 32 percent to 30 percent, with 37 percent undecided.

The poll was paid for by the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review and conducted by Susquehanna Polling and Research on March 14 and 15. The survey asked 400 likely voters in the May 18 primary and special election, including 261 Democrats and 119 Republicans. The poll had a margin of error of 4.9 points.

CQ Politics currently rates this general election contest as a Tossup.

Sen. Russ Feingold (D-Wis.) would be hard-pressed for re-election if challenged by former Gov. Tommy Thompson (R) but has the edge over two lesser-known Republicans who have announced their candidacies, according to a Rasmussen Reports survey taken March 16.

According to the poll of 500 likely voters, 47 percent said they would vote for Thompson and 45 percent preferred Feingold, who is seeking a fourth term.

Thompson still has strong name identification and is viewed favorably by most Wisconsin voters nearly a decade after he ended a 14-year run as Wisconsin's governor in 2001 to become President George W. Bush's first secretary of Health and Human Services.

Three-term Sen. Barbara Boxer is getting help of the highest level as the Democrat starts what could be a tough re-election campaign.

President Obama will travel to California next month to headline a joint fundraising event for Boxer's campaign and the Democratic National Committee.

Boxer is running roughly even with her potential Republican challengers, according to the latest Field Poll, which tested Boxer against three GOP candidates.

The results:

Against Tom Campbell, it was Campbell 44 percent, Boxer 43 percent.

Against Carly Fiorina, it was Boxer 45 percent, Fiorina 44 percent.

Against Chuck DeVore, it was Boxer 45 percent, DeVore 41 percent.

Margin of error: 3.7 points

CQ Politics currently rates the race Likely Democratic. Check back to see whether that changes. And you can follow all the 2010 Senate races with our election map.

It's a good-news-bad-news kinda day for Democrat Ned Lamont, who's seeking his party's nomination to run for Connecticut governor. On the one hand he's beating his closest primary opponent, Stamford Mayor Dan Malloy, 28 percent to 18 percent, according to a Quinnipiac University poll taken March 9-15.

On the other hand, Lamont is running 16 points behind "undecided" in the primary race.

Lamont's been down this road before. He became a rising star for liberals in 2006 when he beat incumbent Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman for the Democratic nomination for Senate. The left wing of the Democratic Party was mad a Lieberman for his support for the Iraq war. But Lieberman ran as an independent and ended up beating Lamont in the general election.

Showing once again that there's no substitute for visibility, former World Wrestling Entertainment CEO Linda McMahon has caught up and passed her Republican primary opponent, according to a Quinnipiac University survey conducted March 9-15.

The poll found McMahon ahead of fellow GOP Senate candidate Rob Simmons, 44 to 34 percent.

Simmons, a former House member, was ahead by 10 points in a similar poll in January.

But that's just the GOP primary to choose a nominee for the seat of retiring Sen. Christopher J. Dodd (D).

The poll found McMahon and Simmons both trailing the top Democrat in the race, Attorney General Richard Blumenthal.

As House Democratic leaders and liberal groups ratchet up the pressure on vulnerable Democrats to support the health care bill this week, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce is warning 10 of them of risks at the ballot box if they vote "aye."

The Chamber commissioned polls in 10 battleground districts held by Democrats. In all 10, voters told the group's pollster they overwhelmingly oppose the health care legislation, and would be more likely to vote for their local representatives' re-election if they vote "no" on the health bill.

The targeted 10 were:

In the past month, former state Sen. Cal Cunningham sliced into Secretary of State Elaine Marshall's lead for the Democratic Senate nomination North Carolina, according to a new survey.

But while Cunningham is now within striking distance of Marshall -- Public Policy Polling's survey found him within the margin of error -- attorney Ken Lewis made larger gains.

The survey, conducted March 12-15, found Marshall favored by 20 percent of those polled; Cunningham, 16 percent, Lewis, 11 percent. And with 47 percent undecided.the nomination could end up going to any of them.

The survey of 420 likely Democratic primary voters had a 4.8 point margin of error.

PPP, a firm with a stable of Democratic clients, has been releasing public surveys on the North Carolina Senate race monthly. The February poll found that Marshall was favored by 29 percent of Democrats, with Cunningham polling at 12 percent, Lewis at 5 percent and 51 percent undecided.

Fully 50 percent of Florida voters surveyed by Public Policy Polling said they didn't know enough about the major-party candidates for governor to have any kind of opinion.

Those who did think they knew enough to voice an opinion favored Republican Bill McCollum over Democrat Alex Sink, 44-31, but it doesn't sound as though either camp should read too much into that.

"The Sink-McCollum race is shaping up as something less than a Clash of the Titans," Dean Debnam, President of Public Policy Polling, said in a news release.. "Half the state doesn't know who they are, and a plurality of the folks who do have a negative opinion of them."

The sample size was 849 Florida voters. PPP conducted the poll March 5-8. Its margin of error is 3.4 percentage points.

CQ Politics rates the Florida race for governor a Tossup.

To follow all the gubernatorial contests, check out our election map.

Sen. Michael Bennet (D-Colo.) and former Lt. Gov. Jane Norton (R) are locked in a tight Senate race, according to a Public Policy Polling survey taken March 5-8.

PPP surveyed 580 Colorado voters and found Bennet and Norton each with 43 percent support.

Neither Bennet nor Norton has a great public image. Just 32 percent of respondents said they approved of Bennet's job performance, compared to 46 percent who said they disapproved. For Norton, 25 percent approved and 35 percent disapproved.

Former Rep. Tom Campbell (R-Calif.) is within the margin of error in a hypothetical match-up with Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) in a new Research 2000 poll conducted for the liberal blog Daily Kos.

Boxer, the three-term incumbent, leads Campbell 47 percent to 43 percent among likely California voters with 10 percent undecided. But Campbell tops Boxer among independents, an increasingly significant chunk of the state's registered voters, 45 percent to 43 percent. The poll, conducted March 8-10, has a margin of error of 4 percentage points.

Nor does Boxer have commanding lead over the two other potential Republican nominees. She tops former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina 49 percent to 40 percent with 11 percent undecided. And she leads GOP state Assemblyman Chuck DeVore 49 percent to 39 percent with 12 percent undecided.

Democrats continue to face an uphill battle in the race for Florida's open Senate seat but do better if former state House Speaker Marco Rubio is the Republican nominee, according to a new survey by Public Policy Polling.

Likely Democratic nominee Rep. Kendrick Meek trails Rubio by 5 points in a head to head matchup, losing 44 percent to 39 percent. If he were to face Florida Gov. Charlie Crist (R) Meek would lose 46 percent to 33 percent.

PPP, a North Carolina-based firm with a stable of Democratic clients, conducted its automated survey of 849 Florida voters from March 5 to 8. The poll had a 3.4-point margin of error.

PPP also tested how Crist would perform if he were to run as a Democrat or Independent (a possibility that has increasingly been speculated about as Crist's numbers have plummeted against Rubio in the GOP primary).

If Crist were to run as a Democrat and face Rubio in the general election Rubio would win 43 percent to 34 percet, according to PPP. If Crist were to run as an Independent and face both Rubio and Meek in the general election the former state House Speaker would take 34 percent, Crist would take 27 percent and Meek would take 25 percent.

With conservative voters abandoning his campaign, Florida Gov. Charlie Crist now finds himself trailing former state House Speaker Marco Rubio, his Republican primary opponent, by 32 points, according to a new survey by Public Policy Polling.

Rubio leads Crist 60 percent to 28 percent according to the new poll of 492 likely GOP primary voters. Among those who describe themselves as conservative, Rubio leads Crist 71 percent to 17 percent. Self-described moderates picked Crist by 13 points. PPP, a North Carolina-based firm with a stable of Democratic clients, conducted the survey March 5 to 8.

The poll had a 4.4. point margin of error.

Tuesday's poll numbers come one day after National Republican Senatorial Committee Chairman John Cornyn (Texas) tried to distance his committee from Crist's campaign after endorsing the governor last year.

The lead in the Colorado gubernatorial race has shifted to Republican Scott McInnis, although Democrat John Hickenlooper remains within striking distance, according to a Rasmussen Reports poll taken March 4.

A Rasmussen poll a month ago showed McInnis, a former six-term congressman, trailing Denver Mayor Hickenlooper, 45 percent to 49 percent. The latest poll: McInnis is ahead 48 percent to 42 percent.

It's an open race -- incumbent Bill Ritter, a Democrat -- isn't running for re-election.

The poll is based on responses from 500 likely voters in Colorado and carries a margin of error of plus or minus 4.5 percentage points.

CQ Politics rates the general election contest a Tossup.

To follow all the races for governor, check out our election map.