Nearly three-quarters of registered voters are feeling good about the election of Barack Obama, according to a Los Angeles Times/Bloomberg poll conducted Dec. 6-8. Seventy-four percent say they feel hopeful, optimistic or proud about his election while 22 percent describe themselves as disappointed, pessimistic or afraid.

The positive feeling is nearly universal among Democrats, shared by 71 percent of independents and 32 percent of Republicans. Those surveyed said by 59 percent to 32 percent that they had a good idea of where Obama wants to lead the country. Twenty-six percent believe he will be able to accomplish many of the things he promised in the campaign, 44 percent say he will achieve some of them, while 27 percent say he will accomplish few or none of them.

Obama's selection of Hillary Clinton as Secretary of State and retention of Robert Gates as Defense Secretary had an approval rating of 65 percent and 75 percent, respectively.

Barack Obama is leading John McCain 50 percent to 41 percent among likely voters with 2 percent preferring someone else and 8 percent undecided in a Los Angeles Times/Bloomberg poll conducted Oct. 10-13. The margin of error is 3 points. Obama's lead comes down to 9 points if Libertarian Bob Barr, Green Party candidate Cynthia McKinney and Ralph Nader are included.

For some context, this is what the other major national polls showed this week:

• New York Times/CBS News: Obama 53, McCain 39.
• USA Today/Gallup: Obama 51, McCain 44.
• Washington Post/ABC News Obama 53, McCain 43.
• Newsweek: Obama 52, McCain 41.

Barack Obama leads John McCain 49 percent to 45 percent among likely voters in a Los Angeles Times/Bloomberg poll conducted Sept. 19-22. The margin of error is 3 percent. The lead is only 46 percent to 44 percent if all registered voters are counted. With more than a month to go till election day, the poll said only about 10 percent of registered voters were still undecided or wavering.

Obama appears to have benefited from voters being especially focused on economic issues during the current financial crisis. Registered voters preferred his ideas on the economy over McCain's by 46 percent to 32 percent. They preferred Obama on dealing with rising oil and gasoline prices by 46 percent to 31 percent and on health care by 54 percent to 25 percent.

McCain has kept the race close by making gains among independents, among whom he leads 49 percent to 34 percent, and due to the enthusiasm of supporters over his choice of Sarah Palin. Forty-three percent of Republicans and 38 percent of independents said McCain's choice of her made them more likely to vote Republican. But Times/Bloomberg said "the terrain is shifting in Obama's favor."

Some negatives for Obama is that about a quarter for former Hillary Clinton supporters say they will vote for McCain. And the 37 percent of voters that had an unfavorable impression of him attributed that to his inexperience.

Americans believe Barack Obama can better address the country's problems by a 47 percent to 35 percent margin over John McCain. Obama also leads among independents, 44 percent to 30 percent, according to a Pew Research Center survey conducted Sept. 19-22.

Obama also had an edge in a Public Policy Polling survey conducted Sept. 20-21 on who voters thought best to turn the economy around, but it was by a lesser 49 percent to 45 percent. Voters split about evenly on which candidate they trusted more to preserve Social Security and other safety net programs for older Americans.

A Los Angeles Times/Bloomberg poll conducted Sept, 19-21 said Obama would do a better job of handling the financial crisis by 48 percent to 35 percent.

A Washington Post/ABC News poll conducted Sept. 19-22 says voters trust Obama to handle the economy by a 53 percent to 39 percent margin over McCain, and to fix the problems with major financial institutions by a 51 percent to 38 percent margin.

There were conflicting polls today on how Americans feel about the Wall Street bailout but the differences probably have to do with the wording of the questions.

A Pew Research Center survey conducted Sept. 19-22 said the public favors the idea of the government bailing out Wall Street by 57 percent to 30 percent with 13 percent undecided. The highest level of support is among Republicans who back such action by 64 percent to 28 percent, but more than half of Democrats and independents approve as well. But surveys by Rasmussen Reports, Los Angeles Times/Bloomberg and Washington Post/ABC News present different perspectives.

The respondents in the Pew poll held their view is held even though most of them gave low marks so far to the government on its handling of the crisis. Only 2 percent said the government's performance was excellent, 17 percent graded it "good" and 77 percent said it was "only fair" or poor. Fifty-six percent say they are closely following the news of the current crisis but only 24 percent say they understand the problems on Wall Street very well.

John McCain and Barack Obama are in a statistical dead heat with Obama leading 45 percent to 43 percent in a Los Angeles Times/Bloomberg poll conducted Aug. 15-18. The margin of error is 3 points. Obama led in this poll in June by 12 points.

There has been much written and talked about regarding Obama's inability to pull away from McCain despite a political environment that's challenging for the Republicans, and some of the state-by-state polls we've been reporting show a similar result. (See today's post on North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Florida and Minnesota). A Gallup analyst has a piece today assessing Obama's supposed "under-performance" in the polls.

That being said, both men face obstacles:

• The poll found far more voters see McCain as having the right experience to be President and a third harboring questions about McCain's patriotism.
• Obama leads McCain among voters citing the economy as the top issue, his uspporters are far more enthusiastic than McCain's, and independents are tilting towards him.

Obama's favorable-to-unfavorable ratio now stands at 48 percent to 35 percent compared to 59 percent to 37 percent in June. McCain's have stayed about the same.

"All the negative attacks from the McCain campaign seem to have been paying off," said Times Poll Director Susan Pinkus.

If you've been watching Presidential preference polls over the past week, you might feel a bit whipsawed.

For the second straight day, Gallup's daily tracking poll Thursday has John McCain and Barack Obama tied. Both candidates dropped a point from yesterday's tracking poll, down to 44 percent. The margin of error is +/- 2 percentage points.