A new poll shows Republican Kelly Ayotte ahead of Democratic Rep. Paul W. Hodes in the New Hampshire Senate race for the seat of retiring Sen. Judd Gregg.

Ayotte posted 43 percent in the poll by American Research Goup compared with 36 percent for Hodes and 21 percent undecided. The telephone survey of 566 voters was conducted Dec. 26-29.

Ayotte, who served as the state's attorney general and was recruited by the National Republican Senatorial Committee to run for Gregg's seat, announced her candidacy this past summer. Since then, several Republicans -- the most prominent of which is 1996 gubernatorial nominee Ovide Lamontagne -- have announced they will run for the seat in next September's primary as well. Other candidates include investment banker William Binnie and businessman Jim Bender.

Democratic Rep. Paul Hodes leaders former GOP Sen. John Sununu by 40 percent to 34 percent with 26 percent undecided in a contest to fill the open seat of retiring Republican Sen. Judd Gregg in 2010, according to an American Research Group poll conducted June 27-29. The margin of error is 4.2 points.

Both enjoy strong support from their respective parties, but they pretty much split unaffiliated voters with Hodes getting 33 percent, Sunun 30 percent and 37 percent undecided. Hodes has an 11 point lead among women, while men are evenly divided.

To see how the 2010 Senate races are shaping up, check out the CQ Politics' election map.

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.

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.

If Caroline Kennedy gets appointed to Hillary Clinton's Senate seat, she would go into a 2010 election against Long Island Republican Rep. Peter King with the upper hand, according to a Rasmussen Reports poll conducted January 6. The survey has Kennedy leading 51 percent to 33 percent among New York voters with 9 percent favoring some other candidate and 7 percent undecided.

Unsurprisingly, King suffers from not having the widespread name recognition of Kennedy with 23 percent not knowing enough about him to have a favorable or unfavorable opinion. His favorable to unfavorable ratio is 39 percent to 37 percent while Kennedy's is 63 percent to 31 percent despite the hammering she has been taking lately in the press and from critics.

Here are updates that include polls published Friday through today in our round-up of match-ups between John McCain and Barack Obama. Also, we have changed several race ratings:

• Arkansas from "Leans Republican" to "Republican Favored."
• Arizona from "Republican Favored" to "Leans Republican."
• Connecticut from "Democrat Favored" to "Safe Democrat."
• Georgia from "Republican Favored to "Leans Republican."
• New Hampshire from "Leans Democrat" to Democrat Favored."

• New Mexico from "Leans Democrat" to "Democrat Favored."

  • North Dakota from "Leans Republican" to "No Clear Favorite."
  • Oregon from "Leans Democratic" to "Safe Democratic."

  • Washington State from "Leans Democratic" to "Safe Democratic."

  • Alaska: McCain 46.6, Obama 43.9. (Hays Research); McCain 58, Obama 39. (Research 2000)

  • Arkansas: McCain 51, Obama 44. (ARG)
  • Colorado: Obama 49, McCain 44. (NBC News/Mason-Dixon); Obama 54, McCain 44. (Public Policy Polling)
  • Florida: Obama 49.2, McCain 48. (Zogby);Obama 50, McCain 48. (Public Policy Polling); Obama 47, McCain 45. (Quinnipiac); Obama 47, McCain 45. (Mason-Dixon); Obama 50, McCain 46. (ARG)
  • Georgia: McCain 50, Obama 48. (Public Policy Polling); McCain 52, Obama 45. (SurveyUSA); McCain 47, Obama 44. (Research 2000); McCain 52, Obama 47. (Rasmussen)
  • Illinois: Obama 60, McCain 38. (Rasmussen)
  • Indiana: McCain 50.4, Obama 45.1. (Zogby); Obama 49, McCain 48. (Public Policy Polling); McCain 48, Obama 48. (ARG); McCain 47, Obama 47. (SurveyUSA)
  • Iowa: Obama 54, McCain 37. (Des Moines Register); Obama 55, McCain 40. (SurveyUSA)
  • Kentucky: McCain 56, Obama 40. (SurveyUSA); McCain 56, Obama 39. (Research 2000)
  • Maine: Obama 56, McCain 43. (Rasmussen)
  • Michigan: Obama 55, McCain 42. (Public Policy Polling); Obama 50, McCain 38. (EPIC -MRA)
  • Minnesota: Obama 49, McCain 46. (SurveyUSA); Obama 53, McCain 38. (Research 2000); Obama 57, McCain 41. (Public Policy Polling)
  • Missouri: Obama 48.8, McCain 48.8. (Zogby); Obama 49.4, McCain 48.6. (Public Policy Polling); McCain 48, Obama 48. (SurveyUSA)McCain 47, Obama 46. (NBC News/Mason-Dixon); McCain 50, Obama 47. (InsiderAdvantage/Politico)
  • Montana: Obama 48, McCain 47, Paul 4. (Public Policy Polling); McCain 48, Obama 44. (Research 2000)
  • Nevada: Obama 53.2, McCain 42.4. (Zogby); Obama 51, McCain 47. (Public Policy Polling); Obama 47, McCain 43. (NBC News/Mason-Dixon)
  • New Hampshire: Obama 53, McCain 42. (WMUR/UNH); Obama 53, McCain 42. (SurveyUSA); Obama 50, McCain 41. (Strategic Vision); Obama 51, McCain 44. (Research 2000); Obama 51, McCain 44. (Rasmussen)
  • New Mexico: Obama 58, McCain 41. (Public Policy Polling)
  • North Carolina: McCain 49.5, Obama 49.1. (Zogby); Obama 50, McCain 49. (Public Policy Polling); McCain 49, Obama 46. (NBC News/Mason-Dixon); Obama 48, McCain 48. (InsiderAdvantage/Politico); Obama 45, McCain 38. (Elon University)
  • Ohio: Obama 49.4, McCain 47.4. (Zogby); Obama 48, McCain 46. (SurveyUSA); Obama 51.5, McCain 45.7. (University of Cincinnati); (Obama 50, McCain 43. Quinnipiac); Obama 50, McCain 48. (Public Policy Polling); Obama 52, McCain 46. (Columbus Dispatch); McCain 47, Obama 45. (NBC News/Mason-Dixon)
  • Oregon : Obama 54, McCain 42. (Rasmussen); Obama 55, McCain 39. (Research 2000). Obama 57, McCain 42. (Public Policy Polling)
  • Pennsylvania: Obama 52, McCain 43. (SurveyUSA); Obama 51.2, McCain 41.4 (Zogby); Obama 51, McCain 44. (Strategic Vision); Obama 52, McCain 42. (Quinnipiac); Obama 53, McCain 45. (Public Policy Polling); Obama 52, McCain 44. (Muhlenberg); Obama 51, McCain 45. (ARG); Obama 51, McCain 47. (Rasmussen)
  • South Carolina: McCain 52, Obama 44. (SurveyUSA)
  • South Dakota: McCain 53, Obama 44. (Rasmussen)
  • Virginia: Obama 51.7, McCain 45.3 (Zogby); Obama 50, McCain 46. (SurveyUSA); Obama 47, McCain 44. (NBC News/Mason-Dixon).
  • Washington State: Obama 55, McCain 40. (Strategic Vision)
  • West Virginia: McCain 55, Obama 42. (Public Policy Polling)
  • Wisconsin: Obama 53, McCain 40. (Strategic Vision); Obama 55, McCain 39. (SurveyUSA).
  • Wyoming: McCain 61, Obama 36. (Research 2000)

Also, check out CQ Politics Presidential election maps which give you four different ways to look at the race, including one that lets you build your own electoral scenario.

Here are the states we updated yesterday and today in our match-ups between John McCain and Barack Obama:

• Arkansas: McCain 52, Obama 41. (Research 2000)
• Colorado: Obama 52, McCain 40. (Rocky Mountain News/CBS4)
• Iowa: Obama 53, McCain 44. (Rasmussen); Obama 54, McCain 39. (Research 2000)
• Kentucky: McCain 55, Obama 39. (Research 2000)
• New Hampshire: Obama 50, McCain 46. (Rasmussen); Obama 54, McCain 39. (Boston Globe)
• Ohio: Obama 49, McCain 46. (Ohio Newspaper Poll); Obama 51, McCain 44. (Public Policy Polling)
• Pennsylvania: Obama 52, McCain 41. (Muhlenberg)
• South Dakota: McCain 50, Obama 41. (Research 2000)
• Tennessee: McCain 54, Obama 38. (Research 2000)
• Virginia: Obama 52, McCain 43. (Public Policy Polling)
• Wisconsin: Obama 51, McCain 44. (Rasmussen)

Also, check out CQ Politics Presidential election maps which give you four different ways to look at the race, including one that lets you build your own electoral scenario.

We're re-arranging the format again at the suggestion of several readers, to show horse race results at the top of the page with the more detailed summaries of state polls on Senate races in alphabetical order below.

Each summary will contain CQ Politics' race rating. Today we are making the following race ratings changes:

• Georgia, from "Republican Favored" to "Leans Republican."
• Minnesota, from "Leans Republican" to "No Clear Favorite."
• Virginia, from "Democrat Favored" to "Safe Democratic."

Here are today's updated polls:

• Alaska: Stevens 49, Begich 48. (Rasmussen Reports)
• Georgia: Chambliss 50, Martin 44. (Rasmussen Reports)
• Minnesota: Franken 43, Coleman 37. (Rasmussen Reports)
• New Hampshire: Shaheen 51, Sununu 42. (ARG)
• New Jersey: Lautenberg 51, Zimmer 37. (Rasmussen Reports)

To keep up with our race ratings, you can also go to our Senate Races to Watch page.

At the request of some of our readers, we've tweaked the format of our general election match-ups between John McCain and Barack Obama by putting the topline figures for update states up top, and reordering the more detailed rundowns of states alphabetically. The summary for each state includes how CQ Politics is rating the race.

Here are the states we're updating today.

1. Georgia: McCain 54, Obama 45. (Rasmussen Reports); McCain 50, Obama 43. (Strategic Vision)
2. Minnesota: Obama 52, McCain 45. (Rasmussen Reports); Obama 47, McCain 46 (ARG)
3. Missouri: McCain 49, Obama 46. (ARG)
4. Montana: McCain 50, Obama 45. (ARG)
5. New Hampshire: Obama 52, McCain 43. (ARG)
6. Ohio: Obama 48, McCain 45. (ARG)
7. Texas: McCain 57, Obama 38. (ARG)
8. Pennsylvania: Obama 54, McCain 40. (Strategic Vision)
9. Virginia: Obama 51, McCain 43. (Public Policy Polling)
10. West Virginia: Obama 50, McCain 42. (ARG)

Visit our Presidential election maps which give you four different ways to look at the race, including one that lets you build your own electoral scenario.

We've updated Ohio, Colorado, Michigan, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Arkansas, Massachusetts, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Vermont, North Carolina, Kansas, Kentucky, California and Florida in our round-up of state-by-state general election match-ups between Barack Obama and John McCain. We are also putting three states into different categories. Indiana and North Carolina move from "Republican Favored" to "Leans Republican." And Poll Tracker sheepishly admits it got out of synch with our race ratings team, and is moving Pennsylvania from "Democrat Favored" to "Leans Democratic."

Visit our Presidential election maps which give you four different ways to look at the race, including one that lets you build your own electoral scenario.