Poll Tracker

Barack Obama's approval ratings after six months in office still range from 57 percent to 65 percent depending on which of the latest polls you choose, but he should be on notice that the so-called "honeymoon" period for newly-minted presidents has fallen since the Nixon administration, according to Gallup.

Gallup says that the honeymoon period - where chief executives are still enjoying approval ratings of 55 percent or more - lasted an average 26 months after they took office, while presidents since Gerald Ford only logged an average of seven months.

Three-term Democratic Gov. John Lynch was re-elected by landslides in his last two races and has enjoyed high approval ratings since his first term as New Hampshire governor, but economic and budget challenges have taken some of the luster off his current standing, according to a University of New Hampshire Granite State poll conducted June 24 - July 1.

Lynch still has a favorable-to-unfavorable job approval ratio that other pressed governors would envy - 63 percent to 27 percent - but that's his lowest showing since October 2005 and the first time since then he has dipped below 70 percent. Sixty-two percent have a favorable opinion of Lynch compared to 24 percent who view him unfavorably, a net drop of 21 points.

First-term Democratic Gov. Ted Strickland is looking increasingly vulnerable in 2010 especially if the economy stays in the tank, according to a Quinnipiac University poll conducted June 26 - July 1.

Strickland's favorable-to-unfavorable ratio stands at 42 percent to 37 percent in the current poll compared to 53 percent to 25 percent in May. His job approval rating is down to 46 percent to 42 percent compared to 57 percent to 29 percent in May. Voters say by 40 percent to 34 percent that, so far in his administration, he has not kept his campaign promises. They disapprove of his handling of the economy by 53 percent to 33 percent and of the state budget by a similar margin.

In one of the final polls before Election Day in 2008, Minnesota voters said by 52 percent to 45 percent that they had an unfavorable view of Al Franken. Now that he is about to be seated in the Senate, a survey by Rasmussen Reports, conducted July 1, says that voters nationwide regard Franken unfavorably by 44 percent to 34 percent with 22 percent undecided.

Among those who feel the strongest, 29 percent have a very unfavorable few of Franken while 12 percent have a very favorable view. Fifty-one percent of Republicans and 32 percent of unaffiliated voters view him very unfavorably, while only 19 percent of Democrats are in the "very favorable" category.

While President Obama's approval-to-disapproval numbers after months in office remain a more than respectable 57 percent to 33 percent, his standing among independents has moved in a negative direction by a net 12 points, according to a Quinnipiac University poll conducted June 23-29.

Fifty-two percent of independents approve of Obama's performance compared to 37 percent who don't, a falloff from the 57 percent to 30 percent standing with them he enjoyed in early June.

That said, there was a modest rise in the number of voters who are satisfied with the way things are going in the country. Thirty-nine percent are very or somewhat satisfied compared to 60 percent who are somewhat dissatisfied (only 5 percent were "very satisfied). That compared to 36 percent who counted themselves as satisfied in April and 63 percent who weren't satisfied.

Republican gubernatorial candidate Chris Christie is leading New Jersey Democratic Gov. Jon Corzine 45 percent to 39 percent with 15 percent undecided, according to a Fairleigh Dickinson University poll conducted June 22-29. The margin of error is 3.5 points.

That's somewhat closer than a Public Policy Polling survey released Tuesday in which Christie led 51 percent to 41 percent, but Fairleigh Dickinson's Peter Woolley says "Even though it's early in the campaign, it is remarkable that a Republican is running ahead in New Jersey."

Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand is statistically tied with Rep. Carolyn Maloney when matched up in a Democratic primary in 2010, according to a Marist poll conducted June 23-29.

Should she get past Maloney, Gillibrand leads two Republicans matched-up with her in the poll, but the one over whom she has the most comfortable lead - Rep. Peter King - has signaled he would not make the race because of the huge amounts of campaign money he would have to raise.

Laying down some markers on what they want or don't in a health care overhaul, 69 percent of voters said Americans should have the option of a public plan that competes with private insurers, but only 29 percent said they would use it, according to a Quinnipiac University poll conducted June 23-29.

Fifty-eight percent said it would be a bad thing if government ran the health care system compared to 32 percent who thought it would be a good thing, but voters were roughly split on whether a public plan as President Obama has proposed was a Trojan horse that would leave to government-run health care. Forty-nine percent said that would not happen while 46 percent believed it would. The margin of error is 1.8 points.

A CNN/Opinion Research poll, conducted June 26-28, found support for President Obama's health care proposal at 54 percent to 45 percent with another 54 percent concerned their health care costs will increase if it passes and only 17 percent believing they would decrease.

In the Quinnipiac poll, nearly three-quarters of voters said they would not be willing to pay more taxes, or would not be willing to pay more than $500 a year, for an overhaul plan that reduces costs and covers the uninsured. Forty-five percent were in the no additional taxes category, while 27 percent said they were willing to pay more if the tab was under $500. Fifteen percent were willing to pay between $500 and $1,000 more.

Each new poll about the political fortunes of New York Gov. David Paterson and the headline on the latest Marist Poll is no exception: "Paterson's Approval Rating Still in the Tank."

"How bad is Governor Paterson's political situation?" asks Marist, which conducted the poll June 23-25. "The answer is pretty bad."

Only 21 percent of voters believe he is doing an excellent or good job (the "excellents" number 3 percent) while 39 percent rate his performance as fair and 37 percent as poor. Fellow Democrats don't give him a rousing endorsement either, with 28 percent regarding his performance as excellent or good (only 4 percent say excellent).

Fifty-four percent of Americans think that South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford should resign from office following his admission of an extramarital affair and his unexplained five day absence from his duties, according to a CNN/Opinion Research poll conducted June 26-28. Forty-four percent say he should serve out the last 18 months of his term.

"There is virtually no difference between Republicans and Democrats on this matter," says CNN Polling Director Keating Holland. "Fifty-one percent of Democrats and 54 percent of Republicans want Sanford to step down."

Since the initial revelation, Sanford has said that he "crossed lines" with a handful of women other than his Argentinean mistress but didn't have sex with them.