When President Bush will be leaving office in less than two weeks with a pretty dismal report card from Americans on where the U.S. gained and lost ground during his administration, according to a Gallup poll conducted Jan. 2-4

Out of 14 issues, there were only four on which at least a plurality of the public though ground had been gained - the effort to fight AIDS, race relations, national defense and terrorism. The "net" made progress number on these after subtracting those who thought the U.S. loss ground was 19 points on AIDS, 15 points on race relations and 3 points each on terrorism and defense. Eight-seven percent said the country lost ground on the economy and 57 percent said the U.S. position in the world had slipped. (See the New York Times story, In Global Battle on AIDS, Bush Creates Legacy).

There were predictably partisan differences. Two-thirds of Republicans agreed that ground had been lost on the economy, but that number was not as high as the 90 percent of Democrats who felt that way. The highest marks given Bush by his own party were the 54 percent that credited for gaining ground in the war on terrorism and 53 percent who said the same for defense. The only two areas where Bush was in positive numbers with Democrats was on AIDS (6 percent) and race relations (1 percent).

Is there a change these perceptions of Bush will change over time?

A CNN/Opinion Research poll conducted last month found that the image of two former Presidents who left office with low approval ratings had improved. Jimmy Carter's approval rating in December, 1980 was 34 percent but now 65 percent of the public sees him positively. George H. W. Bush's approval rating was 34 percent just before the 1992 election, rose to 56 percent in January 1993 and now stands at 60 percent.

OK, maybe it's none of their business if they don't live in New York, but a Gallup poll says Americans by a 45 percent to 36 percent margin want to see Caroline Kennedy appointed to fill Hillary Clinton's Senate seat. Nineteen percent had no opinion.

Democrats hold that view by 63 percent to 20 percent, independents are divided at 38 percent each, and Republicans would like to see someone else appointed by 56 percent to 28 percent.

Public Policy Polling conducted a survey of New York voters Jan. 3-4 that matched up Kennedy and state Attorney General Andrew Cuomo against possible Republican contender Peter King, a Long Island congressman, who said on CNN last month that "there's no evidence" Kennedy was qualified to be senator and added that he could beat her in 2010. The PPP numbers give some credence to King's claim since Kennedy only led him by 46 percent to 44 percent with 10 percent undecided. Cuomo bested King by 48 percent to 29 percent with 23 percent undecided.

A big factor, of course, is that either Democrat is better known statewide than King. Forty percent of voters didn't know enough about King to say whether they viewed him favorably or unfavorably, compared to 22 percent for Cuomo and 16 percent for Kennedy.

Fifty-two percent of Americans following the spectacle of the now-we-fill-it, now-we-don't Illinois Senate seat say the right thing to do is hold a special election as soon as possible, rather than accepting Gov. Rod Blagojevich's appointment of Roland Burris or letting the seat stay open until the issue is resolved, according to a Gallup poll conducted Jan. 5.

Only 16 percent favor letting Burris, the state's former attorney general, serve until 2010 and 23 percent said the seat should remain open until the issue of whether the appointment should stand is resolved.

Looking at the controversy along partisan lines, 61 percent of Republicans said the Senate should block Burris from filling the seat while pluralities of 49 percent of Democrats and 46 percent of independents feel the same way. Republicans feel the strongest that the seat should be filled by holding a special election as soon as possible.

While much has been written that some liberal Democrats have been disappointed with Barack Obama's cabinet picks and others worried that he'll pursue too centrist a course, a Gallup analysis of its data collected Nov. 5 through Dec. 28 says that 93 percent of this group are confident that Obama will be a good president. That view is held by 86 percent of moderate and conservative Democrats, 51 percent of liberal Republicans and 29 percent of conservative Republicans. In both groups of Republicans, those numbers have risen since election day.

When it comes to Obama's favorability rating, it stands at 96 percent among liberal Democrats, 91 percent among moderate Democrats and 90 percent among conservative Democrats. On the Republican side, 61 percent of moderate/liberal Republicans hold a favorable view of him, up from 48 percent in November, and 37 percent of conservatives see him favorably, up from 26 percent in November.

Americans are more worried about the state of the economy, and its impact on them, than they have been in decades. A Washington Post/ABC News poll conducted Dec. 11-14 says concerns about job security are at their highest in 33 years of polling, and holiday spending plans are being curtailed to an extent not see for 23 years.

Sixty-six percent of those surveyed are worried about maintaining their standard of living compared to 51 percent in December 2007. And 63 percent believe the country is in the throes of a long-term economic decline. The same percentage says they have been hurt financially by the current recession. Fifty-one percent have been hurt by the drop in the stock market compared to 43 percent in October.

After suffering two straight beatings at the polls in 2006 and 2008, Republicans in Congress are continuing their downhill slide, according to a Gallup poll conducted Dec. 12-14. They even have the unhappy choice of deciding which number they think is worse - hitting a new Gallup low in approval ratings, or seeing that even President Bush rates higher than they do.

The job approval rating for congressional Republicans is 25 percent compared to 29 percent for Bush and 37 percent for their Democratic colleagues.

Several polls today suggested that a quarter or more of Americans, although not a majority, have questions about what contacts President-elect Obama or his team might have had with Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich about filling the seat Obama vacated after he won the White House.

A majority of Americans say President-elect Barack Obama has done enough to explain any discussions that he or his representatives may have had with Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich about the filling of the seat he vacated after winning the White House, according ton a Washington Post/ABC News poll conducted Dec. 11-14. Fifty-one percent said he has done enough, but 34 percent said he hadn't and 14 percent expressed no opinion. ABC News polling director Gary Langer characterized the 51 percent as a "tepid" vote in Obama's favor. The view that Obama had not done enough was held by 51 percent of Republicans.

However, the poll said the public considered Obama honest and trustworthy by a 67 percent to 22 percent margin and three-quarters approve of the way he is handling the transition.

It's been a bad year for most of the media, business-wise, and a Gallup poll conducted Dec. 4-7 doesn't provide very encouraging news for the future. As the broadcast networks and newspapers watch their revenues and audience decline, and even National Public Radio suffers an economic shock, Gallup says that only the Internet and cable news have shown an increase in their popularity.

Cable news network showed an increase of 6 points to 40 percent of those who say they turn to it for news when this December is compared to December, 2006. The numbers for the Internet jumped from 22 percent to 31 percent in that period.

Local television is the top source of news for most surveyed at 51 percent, but that's a 4 point falloff from two years ago. Cable news now ranks second, local newspapers third at 40 percent, a 4 point decline, a nightly network news programs at 34 percent, a 1 point decline. News on the internet is fifth. They are following by morning news and interview programs on television, public television, radio talk shows, NPR and national newspapers.

No, Americans probably are not shocked by the scandal involving Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich says Gallup which dusted off some of its polling data from 2006 showing that only 22 percent of Americans held their governors in very high or high esteem (the "very high" number was 4 percent). Which was the point made Wednesday by our columnist Richard Connor.

A Rasmussen Reports poll we posted yesterday in which 31 percent said Blagojevich was about as ethical as other politicians and 39 percent believed that Blagojevich's attempts to get large campaign contributions in exchange for political favors was pretty typical.

All that being said, 52 percent in the Gallup survey said they regarded the honesty and ethics of governors and only 26 percent rated them low or very low. And governors did rank higher than senators or House members.

On the heels of a Washington Post/ABC News poll showing Americans against a bailout of the Big Three automakers 54 percent to 37 percent, two polls are out today showing a closer divide in public opinion.

A Gallup poll conducted Dec. 4-7 showed 51 percent opposing financial assistance compared to 49 percent who favored it. That compared with Gallup's mid-November poll in which the public favored aid 47 percent to 43 percent.

A CBS News poll, also conducted Dec. 4-7, showed the split at 45 percent to 44 percent in favor of aid.