President Obama's base is standing by him, concludes a Pew Research Center poll conducted Dec. 9-13.

The survey of 1,504 adults found an overall approval rating of 49 percent, and no sign of disenchantment among Obama's Democratic Party base.

Of those who identified themselves as liberal Democrats, 67 percent were unable to think of anything that has disappointed them about Obama's performance so far.

The wide-ranging poll also asked questions about the Republican Party, and found wide-open opportunities for a GOP star to break out: among all adults surveyed, 77 percent told pollsters they don't know who leads the party, or said that nobody does. That also was the answer from 72 percent of Republicans.

The name identified most often as the leader of the GOP was Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., the party's 2008 presidential nominee. His name was mentioned by 9 percent of Republicans and 9 percent of the total survey sample. Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin was the runner-up among Republicans, named by 5 percent of those surveyed. Looking at the wider sample, the runner-up name was Rush Limbaugh, selected by 3 percent of those surveyed.

A majority of voters -- 53 percent -- do not want to see most members of Congress returned to office next year, according to a telephone survey conducted Oct. 28-Nov. 8 by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press.

However, perhaps reinforcing the old political adage that "all politics is local," a similar number (52 percent) support the re-election of the representative from their own district.

Of the 1,644 registered voters surveyed, only about a third (34 percent) believe that most representatives deserve another term. That figure is similar to findings before the 1994 and 2006 midterm elections; in both those instances, the party in power -- Democrats in 1994 and Republicans in 2006 -- suffered significant defeats and lost its majority in the House.

Leaders in Congress have seen their approval ratings decline in the last six months, according to a poll taken Sept. 30-Oct. 4 by the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press.

And maybe the unkindest cut of all is that the trend cuts across party lines, as Democrats and Republicans are losing faith in the leaders of their own parties.

Last March, the approval rate for the Democratic leadership in Congress was 47 percent, but now it has tumbled to 33 percent; in the same period approval for the GOP leadership has withered from 28 percent to 24 percent.

American adults seem to find themselves in the same quandary as their government over what to do about Iran and its flirtation with becoming a military nuclear power, according to a poll taken for the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press Sept. 30-Oct. 4.

On the one hand, public opinion in this country supports direct negotiations (63 percent).

On the other hand, they don't think it will work (64 percent).

Even more of them support ratcheting up sanctions on Iran (78 percent).

But they're not sure that will work either (32 percent yes, 56 percent no, 11 percent don't know).

Public opinion on abortion has shifted toward a less liberal attitude in the last year, leaving the country evenly divided on the issue and fewer liberal Democrats saying abortion is a critical issue, according to polling done in August by the Pew Research Center.

"The shift in opinion is broad-based, appearing in most demographic groups in the population," Pew said in its analysis of the polling data.

The polling shows a 4 percentage point rise in support over the last year for making abortion illegal in all or most cases, now holding 45 percent, while support for keeping it legal in almost all cases stands at 47 percent, Pew said. It also showed a 6 percentage point bump (to 41 percent) to make it more difficult to obtain an abortion, as well as a six-point boost in people (now at 65 percent) who think it would be good to reduce the number of abortions.

The news isn't good at the moment for members of Congress hoping to hang onto their jobs next year. A poll conducted Aug. 20-27 by the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press found favorable public opinion toward the Congress, now at 37 percent, to be at its lowest point in more than 20 years.

The poll also found that 52 percent of respondents had an unfavorable opinion of Congress.

Democrats, who control both houses of Congress, are bearing the brunt of the public's wrath.

The number of Americans with a favorable view of the Democratic Party has dipped below 50 percent for the first time since President Obama’s inauguration, according to a new poll released Wednesday by the Pew Research Center.

The poll found that just 49 percent of Americans have a good opinion of the party that controls Congress and the White House. Sixty-two percent had a favorable opinion in a similar poll conducted shortly after Obama took office, and in April, 59 percent of Americans were still supportive of the Democrats.

The survey of 2,010 people, conducted Aug. 11-17, also found that 51 percent still approve of Obama’s job performance, while 37 percent disapprove. But the president has lost a lot of ground with independents, who are now almost evenly divided in their opinions of Obama’s job performance. Forty-five percent approve of what he’s doing, and 43 percent disapprove.

In June, 56 percent of independents approved of Obama’s performance to just 29 percent who disapproved. At the same time, only 40 percent of independents have a favorable view of the Democratic Party, which is a decline of 12 points since April.

Two new polls conclude that President Obama's comments on the arrest of Henry Louis Gates Jr. have played some role in his recent ratings decline. However, they suggest the president probably has not suffered long-term damage.

Fifty-four percent of respondents to a CNN/Opinion Research Corp. survey conducted July 31 to Aug. 3 said they agreed Obama "acted stupidly" by commenting on the case of the African-American Harvard professor taken into custody during the investigation of a reported break-in.

However, 59 percent of the 1,136 adults surveyed said Obama's comments did not change their view of the president..

And 61 percent of respondents dsid they approve of the way Obama has generally handled race relations.

President Obama's job approval rating has suffered a sharp decline as have the marks Americans give him for his handling of major issues, particularly the economy and the federal budget deficit, according to a Pew Research Center poll conducted July 22-26. He also took a hit for his handling of the Henry Louis Gates controversy,

Obama's approval-to-disapproval numbers for overall performance dropped from 61 percent last month to 54 percent in July. Taken together with a rise in those disapproving the job he's doing, that amounts to an 11 point turn to the negative.

The image of the U.S. around the world has improved markedly since Barack Obama replaced George Bush, surveyed by the Pew Research Center between May 18 and June 16.

The biggest jump in favorable views of the U.S. has been in western Europe with improvements also in key countries in Latin America, Africa and Asia. There were some signs of improvement in Muslim countries but the view of Muslims in the Mideast remain unfavorable.