Whatever support might be in this country for Barack Obama's determination to shift the U.S. focus from Iraq to Afghanistan, a poll by ABC News, the BBC and ARD German TV conducted Dec. 30 -Jan. 12 and based on in-person interviews with 1,534 Afghan adults says that the U.S. and its allies, and Hamid Karzai's government, are losing the "hearts and minds" of the people in that country.

Only 40 percent of those surveyed say their country is headed in the right direction compared to 77 percent in Oct. 2005. The number of Afghans who have a favorable view of the U.S. has fallen from 83 percent in 2005 to 47 percent, and they are outnumbered by the 52 percent who see the U.S. unfavorably. Only 32 percent believe the U.S. is currently performing well in Afghanistan. Karzai himself does better than the U.S. in the minds of Afghans, with 52 percent approving of his performance, although that is down from 83 percent in 2005.

And the election of Barack Obama may have increased optimism in this country, but in Afghanistan only 2 in 10 think he'll make things better for their country.

Fifty-eight percent of Afghans say the Taliban is the biggest danger, with 13 percent naming drug traffickers and 8 percent fingering the U.S.

Barack Obama is still in the honeymoon phase of his transition although it remains to be seen whether he will match the approval numbers President Bush and form President Clinton had as events moved into the inauguration month of January, according to an ABC News poll conducted Nov. 19-23.

A separate Gallup analysis of polling data collected between Nov. 5-23 found Americans confident about Obama's ability to be a good president by 65 percent to 28 percent. As with the ABC poll, there is a sharp partisan divide with only 28 percent of Republicans holding that view.

In the ABC poll, sixty-seven percent gave Obama positive marks for how he is handling his transition. That was better than Clinton did (62 percent) in November 1992, but in January the Clinton number was 81 percent and for Bush, in 2001, it was 72 percent. The difference was that the partisan divide was less sharp in 2001 and 1992. Only 39 percent of Republicans approve of Obama's performance so far. Clinton in November had the approval of 44 percent of Republicans, a number that rose to 72 percent in January. Bush won the approval of 57 percent of Democrats. However, Clinton's acceptance by Republicans dropped off pretty quickly after he took office.

Fifty percent of Americans have a favorable view of Sarah Palin with 37 percent regarding her unfavorably, but perceptions of her split sharply along partisan lines, according to an ABC News poll conducted Sept. 4. The margin of error is 4.5 percent. Republicans look positively on Palin by an 85 percent to 7 percent margin compared to Democrats who regard her unfavorably by 63 percent to 24 percent. Independents see her favorably by 53 percent to 34 percent.

For comparison, Joseph Biden's favorable to unfavorable ratio is 54 percent to 30 percent with Democrats holding that view 77 percent to 9 percent, independents seeing him favorably by 52 percent to 31 percent and Republicans seeing him unfavorably by 60 percent to 27 percent. But Americans say by 50 percent to 42 percent that she does not have the right experience to be President while 66 percent say Biden does.

However, the majority of Americans say the selection of the vice presidential candidates will make no difference to their votes.