Forty-two percent of voters strongly approve of Barack Obama's performance as President-Elect while 19 percent strongly disapprove, according to a Rasmussen Reports poll published Nov. 30. If those who "somewhat" approve or disapprove are added to the numbers, Obama's favorable to unfavorable ratio is 63 percent to 34 percent.

Taking a look back at the hard-fought presidential campaign from the primaries through the general election, an Associated Press/Yahoo poll conducted 10 times from November 2007 through Election Day found a significant number of voters who shifted their loyalties, sometimes more than once.

Seventeen percent of those who ultimately voted for Obama said that, at least one point, they supported McCain. Eleven percent of McCain supporters said there had been a time or times when they backed to Obama. Overall, just 28 percent of those who voted for Obama and 27 percent who chose McCain had backed their candidate in all 10 polls.

Other findings:

One in five who described themselves as independents in November 2007 divided 45 percent for McCain and 42 percent for Obama.

Three-quarters of those who said in January or April that they backed Hillary Clinton voted for Obama in the end.

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.

So, who is emerging from the ashes on the GOP side after getting beaten in the race for the White House? Sarah Palin, Mitt Romney, and Mike Huckabee lead the list according to a Gallup poll conducted Nov. 5-16 among Republicans.

Asked who they would like to see run for President in 2012, 67 percent chose Palin, 62 percent chose Romney and 61 percent said Mike Huckabee. Gen. David Petraeus, Rudy Giuliani and Newt Gingrich scored in the high 40s. Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, frequently touted as a rising star in the party, garnered only 34 percent who wanted to see him run against 36 percent who didn't, but his biggest problem may be recognition - 30 percent had no opinion. Florida Gov. Charlie Crist and South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham both drew big thumbs-down.

Palin, Romney and Huckabee all finish in the same order among Republicans who identify themselves as conservatives. The top choices among those calling themselves moderate or liberal is Romney (59 percent) and Giuliani (50 percent). Both Palin and Huckabee fall to 48 percent and 46 percent respectively among moderates and liberals.

Despite the current grim economic straits in which Americans currently find themselves, poll after poll since the elections have captured a mood of optimism about things getting better in the first term of a Barack Obama administration.

The latest is a Pew Research Center survey conducted Nov. 6-9 that showed voters, including many Republicans, feeling a high sense of satisfaction about the election and the way it was conducted, believing Obama's first term will be successful and holding high expectations for him. Three-quarters of voters gave Obama a grade of "A" or "B" for the way he handled himself in the campaign.

Voters overall believe by 67 percent to 22 percent that Obama will have a successful first term. That view is held nearly universally by Democrats (92 percent) and by 39 percent of those who voted for John McCain. Forty-five percent of McCain supporters don't believe Obama will be successful, but still, that 39 percent who do hold a positive view is significantly higher than the 26 percent of John Kerry supporters in 2004 who thought George Bush would be successful.

As Barack Obama prepares for the White House and Sarah Palin is being talked about in some quarters as the future of the Republican Party, several polls today suggest that Americans are optimistic about what Obama's first term will bring and far less enthusiastic about a Palin in their future.

A CNN/Opinion Research poll conducted Nov. 6-9 found that forty-nine percent of Americans have a favorable view of Sarah Palin compared to 43 percent who view her unfavorably. Just after the GOP convention, she had been viewed favorably by 57 percent of registered voters compared to about a quarter who viewed her unfavorably. Palin does better among men than with women, with her favorable to unfavorable ratio among men being 51 percent to 41 percent. Her favorability rating with women is 3 points lower.

"With fairly high negatives and lower support among women, who should be a natural constituency for Palin, she's not starting off from a position of strength," said CNN polling director Keating Holland.

However, just as in the campaign, Palin remains a hit with the Republican base with 86 percent viewing her favorably.

As Barack Obama prepares for the White House and Sarah Palin is being talked about in some quarters as the future of the Republican Party, several polls today suggest that Americans are optimistic about what Obama's first term will bring and far less enthusiastic about a Palin in their future.

A CNN/Opinion Research poll conducted Nov. 6-9 found that forty-nine percent of Americans have a favorable view of Sarah Palin compared to 43 percent who view her unfavorably. Just after the GOP convention, she had been viewed favorably by 57 percent of registered voters compared to about a quarter who viewed her unfavorably. Palin does better among men than with women, with her favorable to unfavorable ratio among men being 51 percent to 41 percent. Her favorability rating with women is 3 points lower.

"With fairly high negatives and lower support among women, who should be a natural constituency for Palin, she's not starting off from a position of strength," said CNN polling director Keating Holland.

However, just as in the campaign, Palin remains a hit with the Republican base with 86 percent viewing her favorably.

Much in line with the Associated Press-GfK poll we posted earlier, a USA Today/Gallup poll finds, in a survey conducted Nov. 7-9, that a majority of Americans believe Obama will be able to produce results on 13 of 16 top issues it asked voters about. What is interesting about this analysis is that it gives a rough comparison between Obama and several past Presidents about how he stacks up with the public in the expectations game.

You can get the full list at Gallup, but the top five issues on which Americans believe Obama will be able to achieve results are improving conditions for minorities and the poor (80 percent), increasing respect for the U.S. abroad (76 percent), improving education (71 percent), improving the environment (70 percent) and reducing unemployment (67 percent). The three areas where a majority of Americans said Obama would not succeed is in substantially reducing the federal deficit, avoiding tax increases and controlling illegal immigration.

Seventy-two percent of Americans believe Barack Obama will bring about the changes needed to revive the economy, according to an Associated Press-GfK poll was conducted Nov. 6-10. That number included 44 percent of Republicans.

More than 80 percent said strengthening the economy and creating jobs also should be in the top tier, while 36 percent put tax cuts among the top-tier objectives.

Barack Obama better enjoy this while he can. His meeting today with President Bush's was a study in contrasts: a very popular President-elect and a very unpopular sitting Chief Executive. A Gallup poll conducted Nov. 6-8 put Obama's favorable to unfavorable ratio at 70 percent to 25 percent, while Bush's job approval rating - a close cousin of the favorability number - stood at 27 percent.

Obama's favorability rating has risen since the election, after standing at 61 percent Nov. 1-3. Bush could face finishing his term with the lowest job approval rating in at least half a century, with Harry Truman the runner-up at 32 percent in 1952.

Here's Gallup's chart of how other presidents fared as they reached the end of their terms.