Americans haven't changed their minds about the federal loans made to General Motors and Chrysler late last year to help them avoid bankruptcy, disapproving of them by 59 percent to 39 percent, according to a USA Today/Gallup poll conducted March 27-29. The survey was concluded the day before President Obama laid out his conditions for future aid.

Democrats support the loans 57 percent to 42 percent, while Republicans oppose them 72 percent to 26 percent and independents also disapprove, by 66 percent to 32 percent.

Maybe it's election fatigue hanging over from 2008 or it's just hard to work up interest at this stage, but 45 percent of Virginia Democrats are still undecided about who they will support in this year's primary that will choose their candidate for governor, according to a Public Policy Polling survey conducted March 27-29.

Among those that have a favorite, former Virginia House member Brian Moran leads with 22 percent, former Democratic National Committee Chairman Terry McAuliffe registers 18 percent and state Sen. Creigh Deeds has 15 percent.

Two-term Democratic Rep. Paul Hodes has a 42 percent to 36 percent lead over former Republican Sen. John Sununu to fill the seat of GOP Sen. Judd Gregg who has said he was not running for re-election, according to an American Research Group poll conducted March 27-30. Twenty-two percent of voters were undecided and the margin of error was 4.2 points.

Gregg, of course, made other news this year when he was named by President Obama to be Commerce Secretary and then withdrew citing policy differences with the administration. Sununu lost his seat to Democrat Jeanne Shaheen.

The number of Americans believing that the country is on the right track is still a minority but it has jumped since February to its highest level since 2004, according to a Washington Post/ABC News poll conducted March 26-29.

It also was clear from the poll that the public is not yet ready to assign the responsibility for the current state of the economy to President Obama. Asked whom they blamed most for the country's economic plight, 80 percent singled out the banks, 80 percent blamed business in general, 72 percent blamed consumers, 70 percent fingered former President Bush and only 26 percent named Obama.

Job approval ratings for Alaska's two top statewide Republicans show that first-term Sen. Lisa Murkowski is in a strong position right now should Gov. Sarah Palin decide to challenge her in a GOP primary in 2010, according to a Hays Research Group poll poll conducted Mar. 24-25.

The survey found that Palin, John McCain's 2008 running mate, has a 59.8 positive approval rating and 34.9 percent negative rating, while Murkowski received a 71.6 percent positive approval rating and 20.9 percent negative rating. The remaining respondents didn't express an opinion.

There have been rumblings that six-term Connecticut Sen. Christopher Dodd may be vulnerable in 2010 and while some hypothetical match-ups by Research 2000 show him ahead of three potential Republican challengers, one of those leads is by a less than impressive margin.

Dodd, plagued recently by fallout from the AIG executive bonus controversy, leads former Republican Rep. Rob Simmons, the state's Business Advocate, by 45 percent to 40 percent with 15 percent undecided in a poll conducted March 23-25. Simmons comes that close even though 41 percent don't know enough about him to have a favorable or unfavorable opinion. The margin of error is 4 points. Simmons polls 7 points higher among fellow Republicans than Dodd does among Democrats, and independents favor Simmons by 12 points.

Forty-seven percent of Massachusetts voters say they'd rather choose someone else other than Gov. Deval Patrick in 2010, with 34 percent saying he deserves re-election, according to a 7News/Suffolk University poll conducted March 17-20. Twenty percent were undecided.

Matched against fellow Democrat, State Treasurer Timothy Cahill, who has talked of running, Cahill leads 35 percent to 30 percent with 30 percent undecided. The margin of error is 4.9 points.

A Franklin & Marshall College poll conducted March 17-22 shows Pennsylvania Sen. Arlen Specter in somewhat better shape than did a Quinnipiac University survey that was released yesterday.

Where Quinnipiac showed former Rep. Pat Toomey leading Specter 41 percent to 27 percent in a potential Republican primary, the F & M poll had Specter leading Toomey 33 percent to 18 percent. However, it is not particularly great news for a five-term senator that 42 of registered Republicans are undecided.

Another poll, another source of concern for North Carolina Sen. Richard M. Burr. A new poll by conservative-leaning think tank Civitas Institute conducted March 16 to 19 confirmed what many others have found - Burr continues to struggle with name recognition.

Fifty percent of registered voters told Civitas they either has no opinion or were unaware of the first-term Republican senator. That is down from 54 percent when Civitas asked the same question in January. Thirty-seven percent held a favorable opinion of Burr in the most recent poll, which held steady from January.

The Civitas poll also showed Burr trailing Democratic Attorney General Roy Cooper 41 percent to 38 percent in a hypothetical match-up. The margin of error in the poll was plus or minus four percent. The poll showed that Cooper is also an unknown quantity with voters -- 66 percent of respondents said they either had no opinion or were not aware of the attorney general.

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.

If former Rep. Pat Toomey, currently president of the conservative Club for Growth, decides to run against five-term Republican Sen. Arlen Specter as he's hinted, he'd enter that primary battle with a big early lead, according to a Quinnipiac University poll conducted March 19-23. Toomey lost a 2004 challenge to Specter by less than two points.

The poll has Toomey leading Specter 41 percent to 27 percent among Republican voters with 28 percent undecided. Specter's big problem is that although his overall job approval rating is 52 percent to 33 percent, Republicans disapprove of the way he is doing his job by 56 percent to 32 percent.

Toomey holds the lead in a primary even though 73 percent of Republicans haven't heard enough about him to express a favorable or unfavorably opinion.

Americans are almost evenly divided on President Obama's handling of the AIG bonuses with 42 percent disapproving and 41 percent approving of his performance, according to a CBS News poll conducted March 20-22. Seventeen percent were undecided. Fifty-seven percent of Democrats give Obama good marks but 65 percent of Republicans and a plurality of independents (44 percent) do not.

That result differences from a Gallup poll released earlier today which said Americans were satisfied with Obama's handling of the matter by 54 percent to 39 percent.

While President Obama has weathered the public outrage over the AIG bonus controversy, public dissatisfaction runs high with all the other players - AIG management, Congress and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, according to a USA Today/Gallup poll conducted March 21-22.

The public is satisfied with Obama's performance by 54 percent to 39 percent, but they are dissatisfied with AIG management by 80 percent to 12 percent, with Congress by 65 percent to 26 percent, and Geithner by 54 percent to 28 percent. The poll was taken before Geithner's unveiling yesterday of a detailed plan for buying up the troubled assets of banks which, although a different issue, at least got him a positive mark from Wall Street where the Dow Jones average jumped 497.48 points.

Two-thirds of New Yorkers would prefer another gubernatorial candidate over current Gov. David Paterson, according to a new poll by Siena Research Institute.

Only 14 percent of those surveyed said they would prefer to vote for Paterson.

Paterson has hustled over the last month to re-shuffle his staff and demonstrate he is working hard to remedy New York's budget crisis, but his efforts don't seem to have registered with voters.

New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand has been making an all-out effort to introduce herself to state voters since she was appointed to the post in January by Gov. David Paterson, but so far her outreach doesn't seem to be having the desired effect.

A Siena Research Institute poll conducted March 16-18 showed that only 26 percent of voters have a favorable opinion of Gillibrand, a moderate Democrat from the Hudson Valley, down from 34 percent in a Siena poll conducted in February. Twenty percent of voters have an unfavorable rating of Gillibrand, and 54 percent still don't know or have no opinion of Gillibrand.

Gillibrand also registered tepid support for the 2010 Senate special election.

President Obama's job performance continues to meet with approval from most Americans, according to a poll released Friday by American Research Group (ARG). But his numbers settled a bit from previous very high levels as Obama addressed a multiplicity of problems related to the nation's economic downturn.

The survey of 1,100 adults nationally showed 56 percent approved of Obama's job performance while 37 percent disapproved and 7 percent were undecided.

While that put Obama's net approval rating at plus-19, that was a slip from plus-27 -- 60 percent to 33 percent -- in a February ARG poll.

The more recent ARG survey, taken March 16-19, coincided with a rough patch for Obama. His administration faced angry questions from many quarters about the origin of an obscure provision in the economic stimulus package enacted in February, which left the door open for financially crippled insurance industry giant AIG, the recipient of billions of dollars in federal bailout money, to pay millions of dollars of bonuses to its executives.

First term Republican Sen. Richard Burr leads Secretary of State Elaine Marshall, a Democrat, in a match-up for Burr's North Carolina seat in 2010 but his low job approval rating points to a potential Achilles' heel, according to a Public Policy Polling survey conducted March 12-15.

In fact, Burr's approval numbers are worse than those of former Sen. Elizabeth Dole at this time in the 2007 election cycle, with Burr's favorable to unfavorable ratio at 35 percent to 32 percent and Dole's at 43 percent to 31 percent. A third of voters said they were not sure when asked their opinion of Burr.

Americans have made a new choice about the trade-off between economic growth and protecting the environment - and by 51 percent to 42 percent, they want to make economic growth the priority even if it comes at the expense of the environment, according to a Gallup poll conducted March 5-8.

Gallup has been asking this question since 1985 and says its latest survey is the first time a majority chose the economy over the environment. Back in 1985, 61 percent put the priority on environmental protection compared to 28 percent who chose the economy, and the most recent time that Gallup asked the question before its new poll, the environment still prevailed 49 percent to 42 percent. On the question of whether development of energy supplies should be given priority even if the environment suffers, the public was split with 47 percent concerned about protecting the environment and 46 percent wanting to produce more oil, gas and coal.

Democrats still come down on the side of the environment by 50 percent to 44 percent, while Republicans favor the economic growth priority by 64 percent to 31 percent and so do independents at 50 percent to 42 percent.

Three-quarters of Americans want the government to block or recover the $165 million in bonuses paid out by insurance giant American International Group which was the beneficiary of a $180 billion taxpayer bailout, according to a Gallup poll conducted March 17. Only 17 percent believed that the government should not intervene.

Fifty-nine percent of respondents said they were outraged about the bonuses, 26 percent were "bothered" and 11 percent not particularly bothered. Democrats, Republicans and independents all agreed by large majorities that the government should act on the bonuses.

The kind of concern that voters had been expressing in the past about the way things had been going in Iraq is now transferring itself to the stepped-up U.S. mission in Afghanistan, according to a USA Today/Gallup poll conducted March 14-15.

The number of Americans who say the U.S. made a mistake sending troops to Iraq has fallen from 60 percent last August to 53 percent in the new poll. At the same time, those who think sending troops to Afghanistan jumped from 30 percent earlier this year to 42 percent. Those polled said by 54 percent to 38 percent that things were going very or moderately badly in Afghanistan, compared to 52 percent to 44 percent earlier this year. By contrast, 51 percent now say things are going very to moderately well in Iraq compared to 43 percent who disagree.

This is a turnaround from public opinion during the campaign when polls showed most Americans sided with Obama's view that the greater danger to the U.S. was from Afghanistan and not Iraq, and the country's emphasis should be re-focused.

Voters are divided almost evenly about their opinion of Barack Obama's $3.6 trillion budget and more than three-quarters expressed concern that he is increasing government spending too much, according to a Rasmussen Reports poll conducted March 16-17.

The survey said 45 percent held an unfavorable view of the budget compared to 44 percent who had a favorable opinion of it. Twelve percent were undecided. But on the question of how concerned they were that the government would end up spending too much, 76 percent said they were very or somewhat concerned compared to 21 percent who were not very or at all concerned. And those that put themselves in the "very concerned" category added up to 49 percent.

This mixed bag of views was reflected also in responses to the question about whether Obama's budget would hurt, help or have no impact on the economy. Voters said by 43 percent to 37 percent that it would help while 12 percent predicted it would have no impact.

The race for the Democratic nomination to seek the Ohio seat of retiring Republican Sen. George Voinovich is "a wide-open affair" while, on the GOP side, former Rep. Rob Portman holds a significant lead, according to a Quinnipiac University poll conducted March 10-15. In general election match-ups, the Democrats come out ahead of the Republicans.

For the Democrats, the poll had Lt. Gov. Lee Fisher in the lead at 18 percent, followed by Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner at 14 percent, and Rep. Tim Ryan at 12 percent. State Rep. Tyrone Yates polled 6 percent. At this early stage, 46 percent were undecided. The margin of error for the Democrats was 4.4 points.

Michigan Republicans are likely looking at a competitive primary when it comes to choosing their candidate for governor in 2010 while the Democrats have an early favorite in Lt. Gov. John Cherry although there is a huge number of voters who have not focused on the race,according to an Inside Michigan Politics poll conducted March 4-10.

In the Republican match-ups of candidates who have announced they're running or exploring a run, Oakland County Executive Brooks Patterson leads with 22 percent, followed by Rep. Pete Hoekstra at 17 percent, Mike Cox at 15 percent, Secretary of State Terri Lynn Land at 12 percent and State Sen. Tom George at 2 percent. Thirty-two percent were undecided.

For the Democrats, Cherry leads "First Gentleman" Daniel Granholm Mulhern husband of Gov. Jennifer Granholm, by 26 percent to 10 percent with Michigan State University trustee George Perles at 4 percent and House Speaker Andy Dillon at 3 percent. But 57 percent of voters were undecided.

Cherry trailed all three Republicans he was tested against in general election match-ups. Cox led him 41 percent to 34 percent, Patterson led him 38 percent to 34 percent and Land by 39 percent to 34 percent. The margin of error for the general election match-ups was 4.1 percent.

President Obama vowed today not to scale back big initiatives in his 2010 budget and, at least for now, voters support his budget plan by 49 percent to 40 percent, according to an NPR poll conducted March 10-12.

But while Obama garners overall support for his plan, the people who feel "strongly" against it comprise the biggest bloc of respondents in the poll, at 30 percent. Similarly, while they favor the economic stimulus bill 55 percent to 42 percent, the biggest bloc again is the one of voters strongly against it, at 33 percent.

The number of Americans opposed to government providing money to banking and financial institutions has steadily grown since December to the point where now a majority oppose such aid, according to a CBS News poll conducted March 12-15.

Fifty-three percent oppose these programs compared to 37 percent who approve of them. In December, Americans were nearly evenly divided with 46 percent approving to 42 percent disapproving. And these numbers could grow with anger growing on Capitol Hill and among the public over the $165 billion being paid in bonuses to employees of the bailed-out American International group. Forty-eight percent in the poll said they were resentful irresponsible bankers could benefit from the federal aid.

Three-quarters of those polled said the banks' current problems were directly the result of management decisions not economic conditions beyond their control.

More Americans are seeing Barack Obama as listening more to his party's liberal wing than to moderates and this has caused his approval ratings to slip, according to a Pew Research Center poll conducted March 9-12.

Fifty-nine percent of Americans approved of the job Obama was doing compared to 26 percent who disapproved, a net loss of 14 points compared to his 64 percent to 17 percent rating in February.

In other polls today:

• Gallup puts Obama's approval-to-disapproval ratio at 61 percent to 28 percent in a poll conducted March 13-15. In late February, it had been 67 percent to 21 percent.

• CNN/Opinion Research put his approval rating at 64 percent, down three points since mid-February.

Voters in New York and New Jersey are not impressed with the jobs their Democratic governors are doing as they seek to turn around their respective states' struggling economies. That's the message the comes through in two new polls conducted by Rasmussen Reports, which show both approval rating for New York's David Paterson and New Jersey's Jon Corzine continuing to sink.

In New York, 39 percent of voters approve of the job Paterson has been doing as governor, compared to 59 percent who disapprove, based on the poll conducted March 11. Less than half - 45 percent -- of respondents blame Paterson's own poor performance for this, however. Thirty-five percent said it is due to the country's economic situation, while 19 percent weren't sure.

Over three-quarters of Americans say the government should increase its efforts to encourage energy production from alternative sources such as wind and solar, while about four in 10 said it should also increase financial support and incentives for traditional sources such as oil and gas, according to a Gallup poll conducted March 5-8.

On supporting alternative sources of energy, 77 percent say incentives should be increased, 13 percent say they should not change and 8 percent say they should be decreased. Thirty-nine percent said support should be increased for traditional sources of energy, 28 percent say the level of support should not change and 30 percent say it should be decreased.

Americans were divided on the question of whether protection of the environment or development of domestic energy supplies was the higher priority, with 47 percent saying the environment and 46 percent choosing energy. In 2007, 58 percent had chosen the environment and 34 percent cited energy.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi tends to be viewed unfavorably by a plurality of voters in national polls, but back home in California, when measured by job approval, state voters approve of her performance by 48 percent to 35 percent with 17 percent undecided, according to a Field Poll conducted Feb. 20 - March 1.

For Pelosi, those marks contrast with the figures in May 2008 when 39 percent disapproved of the way she did her job compared to 30 percent who approved.

Recent national polls have rated her by the favorability measure. A recent Newsweek/Princeton Research poll found 41 percent viewing her favorably, 35 percent unfavorably and 14 percent undecided. CNN Opinion/Research said 43 percent viewed her unfavorably and 36 percent favorably.

It's been a year since Eliot Spitzer resigned as New York governor after revelations that he had consorted with prostitutes, and it hasn't been a kind one to his successor, David Paterson, who had been his lieutenant governor, according to a Manhattanville College poll conducted Feb. 28 to March 5. The Manhattanville poll is generally consistent with recent ones by the Marist Institute, Siena College and Quinnipiac University.

Most New York voters like some of his personal qualities - he works hard, he's perceived as honest and ethical, well-informed and warm and likeable. But his job performance is panned by a 66 percent to 29 percent margin and he is viewed unfavorably by 46 percent compared to 41 percent who see him favorably. By contrast, the man he passed over to pick former upstate Rep. Kirsten Gillibrand to fill Hillary Clinton's vacant Senate seat - Attorney General Andrew Cuomo - is viewed favorably by a 70 percent to 13 percent margin.

Fifty-seven percent of Americans believe that the worst is yet to come as far as the economy while 35 percent say it has stabilized but not yet begun to improve, according to an Ipsos/McClatchy poll conducted March 5-9. Only 3 percent believe the country has turned the corner. Forty-eight percent say the country is on the wrong track compared to 44 percent who say it is on the right track, a slight improvement over February. In other polls, the "wrong track" had been much higher in January.

Recent polls have not been kind to New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine and the newest one, conducted March 4-9 by Quinnipiac University continues that trend. Former U.S. Attorney Chris Christie, who is seeking the Republican nod to challenge Corzine, leads him 46 percent to 37 percent with 15 percent undecided.

Christie's lead is built on several foundations: his support among fellow Republicans in a race against Corzine is 87 percent compared to Corzine's 69 percent among Democrats; independents favor Christie 49 percent to 31 percent; men support him 51 percent to 34 percent and whites follow suit by 54 percent to 30 percent.

Chistie's favorable to unfavorable ratio is 31 percent to 7 percent, but the percentage of those who haven't heard enough about him to have an opinion is 61 percent. Corzine is viewed unfavorably by a 50 percent to 38 percent ratio. Fifty percent of voters do not approve of the way Corzine is doing his job compared to 40 percent who do.

The political newcomer on the March 31 special election ballot has been gaining ground in the race for Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand 's vacant upstate New York House seat, according to a Siena Research Institute pollreleased Thursday.

The Democrats' nominee in the 20th Congressional District contest, Scott Murphy, moved to within striking distance of Republican Jim Tedisco, a state Assembly leader.

The survey of likely voters showed better-known Tedisco leading Murphy by only 4 percentage points, 45 percent to 41 percent.

Another survey of likely voters in that race, conducted Feb. 18-19, showed Tedisco holding a 12-point lead. Each poll had a statistical margin of error of plus or minus 3.7 percent.

A businessman and first-time candidate, Murphy was a virtual unknown when he jumped into the race for the seat Gillibrand vacated in January, after she was appointed to the Senate seat that Democrat Hillary Rodham Clinton left to become secretary of State.

There are more than 600 skeptics meeting in New York City this week about the proposition that human activity is causing global warming, and while a Gallup poll conducted March 5-8 shows a majority of Americans believe that climate change is being accurately reported in the news, a record-high 41 percent say it is exaggerated.

Those that believe global warming has already begun dropped from 61 percent to 53 percent since last year. Sixty-eight percent believe the problem is real in that it will happen at some point in their lifetimes, but by a 60 percent to 38 percent margin, Americans don't believe that global warming will pose a serious threat to them or their way of life during their lifespans.

Job approval for senators and House members, driven to near-record lows last year by a widespread perception of partisan gridlock, rebounded sharply during the first two months of the very productive - but still sharply divided - 111th Congress.

This is according to a Gallup poll published Wednesday that showed public approval of Congress at 39 percent, the highest level of support registered in four years. That was nearly three times higher than the depths of 14 percent to which that approval rating plunged at one point during a 2008 election year that saw the Democrats significantly expand their existing congressional majorities while putting Barack Obama, one of their own, in the White House.

A lengthy downturn in public support for Congress was evident as late as January, when a Gallup poll showed the legislature's job approval rating lingering at 19 percent.

Echoing a Gallup poll released yesterday, a Rassmussen Reports survey today says a majority of Americans - 52 percent to 38 person - agreed with Barack Obama's decision to lift the federal funding ban on stem cell research.

Seventy percent of those polled believe the research is at least somewhat likely to lead to cures for previously incurable diseases compared to 22 percent who say it is unlikely.

There are worrying signs for five-term Connecticut Sen. Christopher Dodd: a Quinnipiac University poll conducted March 3 - 8 found him in a statistical dead heat with potential Republican challenger Rob Simmons. Dodd trails Simmons, a former Congressman, 42 percent to 43 percent with 12 percent undecided.

In normal times, Simmons would be considered a long shot to unseat one of the most powerful men in the Senate -- he lost his 2nd District seat to Rep. Joe Courtney in 2006, and is not well known outside of the eastern edge of the state. But scrutinyof Dodd's past real estate dealings and voter dissatisfaction over the financial crisis -- which the Senate Banking Committee chairman is closely tied to -- have given Republicans fresh hope for the seat.

Dodd, who faced more critical media attention this week, fares better against other prospective 2010 foes. The poll found him leading CNBC-TV host Larry Kudlow 46 to 34 percent and state Sen. Sam Caligiuri 47 to 34 percent.

The poll did, however, register a small uptick in Dodd's approval rating since early February. Forty-nine percent of Connecticut voters approved of the job Dodd is doing, compared to 44 percent who disapproved. On Feb. 10, only 41 percent approved while 48 percent disapproved.

"This is the first poll in a long time where Dodd's job approval hasn't dropped," noted Quinnipiac's Douglas Schwartz, postulating that the senator's slide in popularity "may have ended."

A Gallup Poll indicates a majority of Americans likely support President Barack Obama's executive order doing away with the rules on federal funding of embryonic stem cell research that were in place under the Bush administration. The poll, conducted last month, showed 38 percent of Americans said they support easing those restrictions and another 14 percent said they favor no restrictions at all. Twenty-two percent would keep current restrictions while 19 percent would not fund the research at all.

Obama's executive order overturns George W. Bush's 2001 decision to restrict government funding to stem cell lines created before Aug. 9, 2001. Bush's order left scientists to rely on private donations to work with the hundreds of lines created since then. Obama's order doesn't specify which lines can now be used, and instead gives the National Institutes of Health 120 days to develop new rules.

For all the attention that radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh got during the sideshow over whether he was the de facto leader of the GOP (a view that Democrats gleefully promoted), a Rasmussen Reports poll conducted March 6-7 found that 65 percent of Republicans see no clear leader of their party.

No one sampled in the poll was seen by higher than 4 percent as leader, and that, was, well, Limbaugh. Asked if Limbaugh was the leader of the party absent other names, the answer was "no" by 70 percent to 14 percent.

RNC Chairman Michael Steele and Sen. John McCain tie at 3 percent, while Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and Limbaugh's fellow conservative radio talker, Sean Hannity, weigh in at 1 percent.

On the Democratic side, 49 percent said Barack Obama, 23 percent said no clear leader, 7 percent said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and no one else broke 1 percent.

Last month, we posted a Gallup poll that compared Barack Obama's approval ratings after one month in office to past presidents for the same time period. Gallup put him about in the middle in terms of job approval ratings. Karl Rove, on his site, has constructed a nice graphic which we thought we'd share.

Three term Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer holds comfortable leads in match-ups against potential GOP challengers in 2010, but voters are almost evenly divided when asked if they want to re-elect her, according to a Field Poll conducted Feb. 20 - March 1.

While Field says 44 percent are not inclined to back her again compared to 43 percent who are, it notes that these numbers are better than they were the last two times she ran and that she eventually won by comfortable margins.

She leads Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger 54 percent to 30 percent and former Hewlett Packard chief executive Carly Fiorina by 55 percent to 25 percent.

In a hypothetical Republican primary to choose a candidate to run against Boxer, Schwarzenegger leads Fiorina 31 percent to 24 percent with Assemblyman Chuck DeVore polling 9 percent. If Schwarzenegger doesn't run, Fiorina would lead DeVore 31 percent to 19 percent. But in either case, these match-ups should be take n with a grain of salt because both scenarios have huge undecided numbers.

California Sen. Dianne Feinstein would be the clear favorite in a Democratic primary for governor in 2010 if she chooses to make the run according to a Field poll conducted Feb. 20 - March 1.

Attorney General Jerry Brown and Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa tie for second at 16 percent and San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom registers 10 percent. All others are in single digits.

Should Feinstein not run, Brown would be out front by 26 percent followed by Villaraigosa at 22 percent, Newsom at 16 percent and Lt. Gov. John Garamendi at 8 percent.

Sixty-five percent of voters are very or somewhat confident that Barack Obama will be able to turn around the economy while 33 percent are not too confident or not confident at all, according to a Newsweek/ Princeton Research poll conducted March 4-5. That's a net 13 point swing towards fewer people expressing confidence in Obama than Newsweek's mid-January poll.

When it comes to Obama's $787.2 billion economic stimulus plan, 40 percent call it a good start but say more spending is needed, 37 percent say it won't work and 15 percent say it's the right amount.

First-term Republican Sen. David Vitter has the edge over potential rivals for his Louisiana seat in 2010, but he is not standing on particularly solid ground, according to a Research 2000 poll conducted March 2 - 4.

Vitter, who so far has weathered revelations in 2007 that his phone number was found in the records of an escort service accused of engaging in prostitution, leads in head-to-head match-ups. But when voters were asked if the election were held to-day whether they would re-elect Vitter, consider another candidate or replace him, 41 percent said they'd re-elect him, 27 percent would consider someone else and 32 percent would replace him.

Forty-six percent of voters have an unfavorable opinion of Barack Obama's $3.6 trillion budget while 41 percent view it favorably, according to a Rasmussen Reports poll conducted March 4-5. Thirteen percent are undecided. Three-quarters of those polled were very or somewhat concerned that the budget increases government spending too much. Voters believe by 44 percent to 41 percent that the budget will help the economy. The margin of error is 3 points.

A Gallup poll conducted Feb. 27-28, right after the budget was released, said that those who had a positive view of the budget outweigh those who didn't by 44 percent to 26 percent, but that result was tempered by the fact that at the time 30 percent said they didn't know enough about it to have an opinion.

SurveyUSA tested the appeal of a slate of potential or announced candidates for California's governorship in 2010 and didn't find any of them firing up voters with enthusiasm, but the poll did not include two big names, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and Sen. Dianne Feinstein.

The survey asked voters to rate seven people on a scale of one to 10 with "10" meaning the individual had the "highest qualifications" and "1" signifying "completely unqualified."

The only name to garner a double-digit response in the "10" category was Attorney General and former Governor Jerry Brown who also had the highest favorability rating at 31 percent. However, only 10 percent graded Brown as a "10" compared to 20 percent who considered him completely unqualified, and those that viewed him unfavorably, at 34 percent, exceeded his favorable numbers.

Congressional Republicans come out on the losing end of yet another poll when matched against Barack Obama and Democratic lawmakers on job approval ratings. Obama's approval to disapproval numbers are 67 percent to 27 percent and congressional Democrats score 49 percent to 45 percent, while the Republicans register 60 percent disapproval compared to 34 percent who see them positively, according to a Diageo/Hotline poll conducted Feb. 28 - March 2.

Seventy percent of registered voters express confidence in Obama compared to 28 percent who do not. They expressed confidence in Obama and his administration to turn around the economy by 64 percent to 33 percent.

Sixty-three percent of voters believe Barack Obama's priorities and polices are likely to significantly help the country compared to 25 percent who say they will do serious harm, according to a Fox News/Opinion Dynamics poll conducted March 3-4. Republicans come down on the "serious harm" side by a 54 percent to 32 percent margin.

Fifty-eight percent say Obama is keeping the promises he made during the campaign while 28 percent say he is drifting off course. When asked whether the nation's economy would benefit more from following the economic policies of Ronald Reagan, voters came down on Obama's side by 49 percent to 40 percent.

Congress takes its usual lumps with voters saying by 48 percent to 41 percent that they disapprove of the job it's doing, but that's a whole lot better than public opinion of lawmakers in mid January when the disapproval margin 68 percent to 23 percent. Sixty percent said they trust their own judgment more than members of Congress when it comes to important national issues.

Even though the economy is still in turmoil, several polls are finding a rise in the number of people who believe the country is on the right track or satisfied with the direction it's going.

A Gallup poll conducted March 1-3 found that 20 percent of Americans are satisfied with the way things are going - a low number, but an improvement from the 14 percent who felt that way in early February. The trend is mostly driven by self-described Democrats whose satisfaction has risen from 20 percent in February to 27 percent. The number of independents in this category rose from 15 percent to 20 percent while satisfaction among Republicans is at 11 percent, a point lower than it was last month.

Rasmussen Reports, in a poll released today, found that 35 percent said the country is moving in the right direction up from 30 percent last week and 28 percent the week before. Fifty-eight percent of Democrats believe this, as do 27 percent of independents and 15 percent of Republicans.

The disapproval numbers for New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine are on the rise and when he is matched in a trial heat against former U.S. Attorney Chris Christie, the presumed frontunner for the GOP nomination, Christie wins 41 percent to 32 percent with 27 percent undecided, according to a Fairleigh Dickinson University poll conducted Feb. 25 - March 2. A Quinnipiac University poll a month ago also showed Christie ahead.

Forty-six percent of registered voters in the state disapprove of the job Corzine is doing compared to 40 percent who approve and 13 percent undecided. Last November, Corzine had a positive approval to disapproval ratio of 46 percent to 37 percent.

Voters trust Barack Obama more than Republicans in Congress to do a better job of handling the economy but nearly two-thirds say Obama will not be able to fix the crisis within two years, according to a Quinnipiac University poll conducted Feb. 25 - Mar. 2.

Fifty-six percent trust Obama more on the economy compared to 26 percent who trust the Republicans. But by 64 percent to 28 percent, they don't believe Obama will be able to turn things around in that two-year period. On that point, a Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll released yesterday asked the expectations question a somewhat different way - i.e., when would they start holding Obama responsible for the state of the economy - and 41 percent gave him two years or more and 38 percent gave him two years or less.

Just 11 percent of Republicans surveyed by Rasmussen Reports said they think radio's Rush Limbaugh is the GOP's leader , according to poll results released Wednesday.

Rasmussen said that 81 percent of Republican voters they polled disagreed with the statement, "Rush Limbaugh is the leader of the Republican Party. He says jump, and they say how high."

Americans approve of the job Barack Obama is doing as President by 60 percent to 26 percent and his handling of the economy by 56 percent to 31 percent, according to a Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll conducted Feb. 26 - Mar. 1. Sixty-eight percent have very or somewhat positive feelings about him, 12 percent are neutral, and 19 percent have somewhat or very negative views.

The poll also indicates that, so far, the Republican opposition to Obama's proposal and policies is working against them.

Sixty-seven percent say they feel more hopeful about what Obama is doing in terms of his leadership and plans for the country while 28 percent are more doubtful.

The approval rating for New York Gov. David Paterson, who is up for re-election in 2010, has sunk to the lowest level ever recorded during the nearly 30 years that the Marist Institute has been tracking the state's chief executives.

Only 26 percent of registered voters say Paterson is doing an excellent or good job in a Marist survey conducted Feb. 25-26. The percentage rating his performance as excellent was 2 percent. The overall approval rating represented a 20-point drop since late January. Forty-three percent say Paterson's performance is "fair" and 28 percent rate it "poor."

While 77 percent of voters say Paterson is working hard as governor and 62 percent say he understands the problems facing the state, more than half do not think he is a good leader or changing things in Albany for the better.

More than half of Pennsylvania voters say it's time for someone other than GOP Sen. Arlen Specter to represent the state, according to a Susquehanna Polling and Research survey conducted Feb. 23-26.

Fifty-three percent of all registered voters held that view compared to 38 percent who would support Specter again in 2010. Among Republicans only, the tide ran against Specter by 66 percent to 26 percent which could be, in part, because of Specter's defection from the Republicans on Barack Obama's stimulus package. Democrats backed Specter by 49 percent to 42 percent over someone new. Susquehanna's James Lee said that if the election were held today, Specter would be "toast" in a two-way race with a credible candidate.

Those who have a positive view of President Obama's $3.6 trillion fiscal 2010 budget proposal exceed those who view it negatively by a 18 percentage-point margin, according to a Gallup poll released Monday.

But that 44 percent to 26 percent edge is tempered by the fact that 30 percent, nearly a third of the 1,023 adult respondents in the national poll taken Feb. 27-28, said they didn't know enough about the proposal released last Thursday to say whether they were positive or negative. Another 1 percent voiced no opinion at all.

As with many of the measures that Obama has presented to deal with the nation's struggling economy since he became president on Jan. 20, there are sharp partisan and ideological differences over his budget plan.

Muslim Americans are the most racially diverse religious group in the U.S. with African-Americans being the largest contingent at 35 percent, according to a Gallup analysis of data collected during 2008. Twenty-eight percent are white and 18 percent are Asian. Three-quarters or more of all other religious denominations - Protestant, Catholic, Mormon and Jews - are white.

Nearly half of likely voters say that Barack Obama should wait until the economy improves before he pushes ahead with an ambitious overhaul of health care, according to a Rasmussen Reports poll conducted Feb. 26-27.

Forty-nine percent hold that view compared to 42 percent who want him to move forward and 10 percent who are undecided. The White House is focusing this week on health care with a meeting set for Thursday of all the players and groups involved in the issue.

Seventy-eight percent said reining in health spending was very or somewhat important to improving the nation's economy.

Voters were skeptical of Obama's ability to keep his promises to reduce the number of uninsured Americans, improve the quality of care and save the typical family $2,500 a year in medical costs. Fifty-three percent believe is not very likely or likely at all that Obama will achieve all three while 44 percent think he will. They are the most optimistic on the promise to reduce the number of uninsured Americans with 50 percent believing that.

The change of administrations appears to have benefitted both parties with job approval for congressional Democrats rising from 37 percent to 47 percent since December, and by 25 percent to 36 percent for Republicans, according to a USA Today/Gallup poll conducted Feb. 20-22. For the GOP, that's their highest mark since Oct. 2005 when they scored 38 percent.

"These increases suggest that both parties have benefitted perceptually from the change in government from the Bush administration to the Obama administration," Gallup said, even though Republicans are standing in opposition to most of Obama's proposals.