Shaheen down, Gregg up on Senate approval scale

Klobuchar among most popular senators
Sen. Amy Klobuchar is the most popular U.S. senator, according to surveys by Public Policy Polling. The pollster looked at the Approval Ratings of 59 senators over the past several months and found Klobuchar with a net favorable rating of 30 percent, well above the second most favorable, Sen. Scott Brown of Massachusetts, who scored 24 percent. Klobuchar, who is up for re-election in 2012, had an approval rating of 59 percent compared to 29 percent of Minnesota voters who said they disapproved ...

Americans Don't Mind Their Senators
Public Policy Polling is out with a treasure trove of public approval-disapproval Ratings of senators in the second half of 2010, and finds that the average Approval Rating for a senator is 43% approving to 40% disapproving. "That suggests the old adage that voters hate Congress but love their Congressman holds true...to an extent...maybe hate Congress but don't mind their Congressman is a better way of putting it. At any rate 37 Senators had positive approval numbers in our most recent polls w...

Senate Approval Ratings
During the second half of 2010 PPP polled on Approval Ratings for 59 different Senators. Here's some of the information on how they stack up: -The average approval rating for a Senator right now is 43% approving to 40% disapproving. That suggests the old adage that voters hate Congress but love their Congressman holds true...to an extent...maybe hate Congress but don't mind their Congressman is a better way of putting it. At any rate 37 Senators had positive approval numbers in our most recent...

Klobuchar ranked most popular senator up in 2012; Lieberman least
Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) is the most popular senator running for Reelection, while Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) is the least, according to new polling data. Public Policy Polling (PPP), a Democratic-leaning firm, looked at the Approval Ratings for 59 senators during the second half of 2010, and several of them will face voters in 2012. The senators were ranked by the spread between their approval numbers and Disapproval numbers. Of the 59, Klobuchar is the most popular, with an approval rating...

Klobuchar most popular '12er
-- AP Photo Minnesota's Amy Klobuchar is the most popular senator facing Reelection in 2012, according to a new survey released by Public Policy Polling. The former Hennepin County attorney clocks in with a sparkling 59 percent Approval Rating, giving her a 30-point spread over her unfavorable number. Third-term Maine Sen. Olympia Snowe posts the highest approval rating among Republicans, earning the nod of 56 percent of voters. Massachusetts Sen. Scott Brown, also up for Reelection in two ye...

FL-Sen: Nelson Leads All, Except Jeb
Public Policy Polling (12/17-20, Florida voters): Bill Nelson (D-inc): 47 George Lemieux (R): 36 Bill Nelson (D-inc): 44 Jeb Bush (R): 49 Bill Nelson (D-inc): 44 Mike Haridopolos (R): 32 Bill Nelson (D-inc): 46 Adam Hasner (R): 30 Bill Nelson (D-inc): 44 Connie Mack IV (R): 36 (MoE: ±3%) This poll's been out there for a little while now, but with SSP Headline News enjoying an extended Vacation from the blogosphere, I called the boys down at SSP Reclamation Services & Towing to dra...

NC Politician Year End Report Card
As 2010 comes to a close we have an opportunity to look at whose popularity rose, fell, and stayed the same among the major politicians in North Carolina over the course of the year. Here's a quick breakdown of how the net Approval Ratings of Bev Perdue, Richard Burr, Barack Obama, and Kay Hagan shifted from the end of 2009 to the end of 2010: Politician End of 2009 Approval End of 2010 Approval Shift Bev Perdue 27/53 (-26) 35...

Literary death, equine among NH's top 2010 news
A week earlier in Portsmouth, fears of an explosion resulted in a nine-hour standoff that cost the city $13,000. The scare aboard a Greyhound bus was prompted by a Burundi man’s overheard phone conversation in Swahili that got reported as a possible Bomb Threat. The driver and other passengers got off the parked bus within several hours, but the Burundi man was too frightened to leave until a relative was brought in to interpret. The year also ushered in a new era for New Hampshire Rep...

Scarcelli: Snowe challenge may depend on primary
Maine Democrat Rosa Scarcelli suggested that a decision to challenge Sen. Olympia Snowe in 2012 could hinge on whether the three-term Republican is forced to fend off a primary challenge. Scarcelli, the CEO of an Affordable Housing agency who ran for the Democratic nomination for Governor in 2010, is widely seen as a rising star in her party and says she's very interested in running for public office again. But the 41-year-old also bills herself as a non-partisan pragmatist who stresses she wo...

Pollster Reveal: Few Candidates Saw Deficit Reduction As A Major Issue
New Haven -- It is expected as a fait accompli that President Obama, both in his upcoming State of the Union address and during his next year or two in office, will focus his energy and efforts on Deficit reduction. The administration has already announced a forthcoming freeze in both Discretionary Spending and federal worker salaries. And with a more heavily GOP-tilted legislative branch in the offing, this topic appears to be the best (and perhaps only) hope for a governing consensus. Ther...

Crist sees spike in approval as he leaves office
Outgoing Florida Gov. Charlie Crist (I) will enjoy his highest Approval Rating of the year just as he leaves office.  Fifty percent of Florida voters approve of the former Republican Senate Candidate's job performance, according to Democratic-leaning Public Policy Polling (PPP), opposed to 39 percent who disapprove.  The results suggest that Crist has enough support to launch another political campaign in the future after being swept away by now-Sen.-elect Marco Rubio (R) in the state's clos...

Crist's Future
There hasn't been a lot of good news for Charlie Crist this year but as he prepares to leave office here's a little piece of it: he's actually finishing up with the best approval numbers PPP has found for him all year. 50% of voters approve of the job he's doing to 39% who disapprove. Starting in March his approval numbers in five previous PPP polls this year were 35%, 44%, 42%, 47%, and 41%. Crist has stratospheric numbers with Independents at 70% approving of him to only 26% disapproving. Th...

Crist Ends with Best Approval Numbers
Florida Gov. Charlie Crist didn't have the best year -- going from an "unbeatable" U.S. Senate Candidate to losing the election after being forced from the Republican party -- but a new Public Policy Polling survey finds him finishing up his term as Governor with a 50% Approval Rating, his highest all year. ...

NH Sen.-elect hires chief of staff
CONCORD, N.H. — A man who once served as former Oregon Sen. Gordon Smith’s Chief of Staff has been hired for the same position by New Hampshire Sen.-elect Kelly Ayotte. John Easton, who served as Smith’s Chief of Staff for seven years ending in 2009, comes to Ayotte’s staff from a Bipartisan public affairs firm in Washington. Ayotte, a Republican and the former New Hampshire Attorney General, defeated Democratic Rep. Paul Hodes in November. She will replace Republican Se...

Sarah Palin takes a beating in Alaska: poll
This one has got to hit really close to home. Only 33% of Alaskans have a favorable opinion of Sarah Palin, while the majority are icy about their former half-term GOP Governor. The bulk -- 58% -- have a negative opinion about Palin, according to a new poll by Public Policy Polling. Less than a year ago, PPP found that 47% of Alaskans viewed Palin favorably, compared with 45% unfavorably.    Of the 10 states that PPP surveyed this fall, only blue Massachussetts gave her a higher unfavorabil

Huckabee on Recent Polling
Every time I think I have the Huckster’s motives and plans figured out, he does things like this to throw me a curveball: Former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee has the support of more Republicans around the country than three of his potential 2012 rivals, according to a new CNN poll released Tuesday. The CNN/Opinion Research Corporation poll found that 67 percent of self-identified Republicans were either “very likely” or “somewhat likely” to support his candidacy in 2012.

Good News From The Granite State
It's a good time for New Hampshire right now. We survived the Great Blizzard of 2010, which did a good job of weeding out some of the pretenders from the Real New Hampshirites (the poseurs are booking flights south), and last November we started undoing the big mistakes we made in 2006 and 2008. When New Hampshire "turned blue" in those Elections and went Democratic, a lot of people misunderstood what had happened. My state didn't embrace the Democrats, we rejected the Republicans. For decades...

The Year In Forgettable Candidates
Welcome back to The Hotline's "Year In Review" features. So far, we've brought you the Year In Scandals, the Year In Upsets, the Year In Surprise Stars and the Year In Media. We now turn to a group of more disappointing contenders -- the most Forgettable Candidates and campaigns of 2010. These spanned the country this year and in most cases, they were highly touted recruits -- Democrat and Republican alike -- who never got their campaigns going. Think anyone, for example, will remember Tom Emme...

Your Medicare taxes won't cover what you'll cost
What you paid in Medicare taxes shows up on your W-2 Income Tax form every year. So when you retire, you want your money's worth. That's how most Americans see it. In an Associated Press-GfK poll nearly 6 out of 10 said they paid into the system so they deserve their full benefits — no cuts. But a newly updated financial analysis shows that what people paid into the system doesn't come close to covering the full value of the medical care they can expect to receive as Retirees. Consider an ...

What you pay for Medicare won't cover your costs
You paid your Medicare taxes all those years and want your money's worth: full benefits after you retire. Nearly three out of five people say in a recent Associated Press-GfK poll that they paid into the system so they deserve their full benefits — no cuts. But a newly updated financial analysis shows that what people paid into the system doesn't come close to covering the full value of the medical care they can expect to receive as Retirees. Consider an average-wage, two-earner couple tog...

What you pay for Medicare won't cover your costs (AP)
WASHINGTON – You paid your Medicare taxes all those years and want your money's worth: full benefits after you retire. Nearly three out of five people say in a recent Associated Press-GfK poll that they paid into the system so they deserve their full benefits — no cuts. But a newly updated financial analysis shows that what people paid into the system doesn't come close to covering the full value of the medical care they can expect to receive as Retirees. Consider an average-wage, ...

Medicare to swell with Baby Boomer onslaught
WASHINGTON — Baby Boomers are about to create a record population explosion in the nation's Health Care program for seniors. Starting on Saturday, 20 years of Baby Boomers begin turning 65 and qualifying for Medicare — one every eight seconds. A record 2.8 million will qualify in 2011, rising to 4.2 million a year by 2030, projections show. In all, the government expects 76 million boomers will age on to Medicare. Even factoring in deaths over that period, the program will grow from 4...

Your Medicare taxes wont cover what youll cost
WASHINGTON (AP) — What you paid in Medicare taxes shows up on your W-2 Income Tax form every year. So when you retire, you want your money’s worth. That’s how most Americans see it. In an Associated Press-GfK poll nearly 6 out of 10 said they paid into the system so they deserve their full benefits — no cuts. But a newly updated financial analysis shows that what people paid into the system doesn’t come close to covering the full value of the medical care they can e...

What you paid for Medicare wont cover costs
You paid your Medicare taxes all those years and want your money’s worth: full benefits after you retire. Nearly three out of five people say in a recent Associated Press-GfK poll that they paid into the system so they deserve their full benefits — no cuts. But a newly updated financial analysis shows that what people paid into the system doesn’t come close to covering the full value of the medical care they can expect to receive as Retirees. Consider an average-wage, two-earne...

Here we go again
Welcome to post-racial America, where the only thing that matters is race. CNN: Rep. Danny Davis, a Democrat from Illinois and Mayoral Candidate in Chicago has a message for former President Bill Clinton: Butt out. Davis, a onetime ally of Clinton’s, issued a strongly worded statement Tuesday, in which the Chicago Democrat said he is “seriously concerned and disturbed” by the news Clinton plans to throw his weight behind ex-Obama Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel and make a campai...