Politicians who have a red circle around Election Day in November 2010 would do well to have a look at a new poll by Public Strategies Inc. and Politico.

It says voters choose the economy by a two-to-one margin over other issues in determining how they will vote in that midterm congressional election.

The numbers:

–45 percent consider the economy the most important issue in deciding their vote.
–21 percent chose government spending.
–20 percent picked a U.S. healthcare overhaul.
–9 percent chose the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan as their big issues.
–4 percent picked climate change.

President Obama came out all right in the poll. His numbers have dropped from 66 percent back in March to 54 percent now, but it has stabilized at that level.
See the whole poll here.

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Photo credit: Reuters/Mike Theiler (shoppers at Virginia mall in September)

Remember during the presidential campaign, when Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton was asked about her “likability” compared to that of  rival Barack Obama?

The inference was that people didn’t like her as much as they liked him, even after he told her during a presidential debate: “You’re likable enough.”

That was then.

This is now.

Secretary of State Clinton is more popular (or can we just say likable) than President Obama, according to a Gallup poll released on Thursday.

Clinton is viewed favorably by 62 percent of Americans, just three points below her rating in January. Obama’s favorable rating has fallen 22 points from 78 percent in January to land at 56 percent.

Here’s a look back at that moment in New Hampshire in 2008, when Clinton’s likability was in question.

The Gallup report says the change in the relative popularity of Clinton to Obama may have more to do with their respective jobs than their personalities.

He came into office with sky-high ratings. But a battered economy, healthcare, and two wars have taken a toll  on his numbers.  Clinton is juggling some tough issues too. But the secretary of state is not in the glare of the spotlight as much as her boss.

The poll was taken Oct. 1 through Oct. 4,  before Obama won the Nobel Peace Prize — a surprise that may have given him a boost or helped push his numbers down even more.

We’ll have to wait for the next poll to see.

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Photo credit:Reuters/Cathal McNaughton (Clinton in Belfast, Northern Ireland, October 12, 2009)

DALLAS - According to a new poll by the Pew Research Center, Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama has a 19-point lead over Republican rival John McCain among U.S. voters who have already cast their ballots.

The Pew poll, released on Tuesday, gels with other reports of a Democratic surge to the polls in states that allow early voting.

“Obama holds a 53 percent to 34 percent lead among the sizable minority of voters (15 percent) who say they have already voted. Among those who plan to vote early but have not yet voted (16 percent of voters), 56 percent support Obama, while 37 percent support McCain,” Pew said.

The election will be held a week from today and most national polls give Obama a commanding lead, although not by the margins suggested by Pew’s survey of early voters. This could well be a sign of energized and enthusiastic Democrats heading to the early polls.

Obama’s lead over McCain has narrowed from 12 points just five days ago to four points, according to the latest Reuters/C-SPAN/Zogby poll. You can see our report on this  here. 

The latest Pew poll gave Obama an overall lead of 52 percent to 36 percent among the 1,325 registered voters surveyed from Oct 23- 26th.

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Photo credit: Reuters/Jason Reed (Obama speaks at rally)

WASHINGTON - With the presidential election four months away, most opinion polls show Barack Obama holding a single-digit lead over John McCain.

But in the kissing contest, the Illinois Democrat is trouncing his rival.

A nonscientific survey by the dating site Match.com found that 77 percent of respondents believe Obama would be a better kisser than the Arizona Republican.

“While the majority of our member base considers themselves ‘middle of the road,’ it appears that America is leaning to the left with their lips,” said Darcy Cameron, the dating service’s director of marketing and advertising.

The service solicited 1,433 responses from visitors to its HappenMagazine.com Web site.

The two women who would actually know about the candidates’ tongue technique, Michelle Obama and Cindy McCain, were not polled.

No word on whether Obama Girl and the McCain girls participated.

Photo: Obama and McCain share a hug in Manchester, NH on Jan. 5. REUTERS/Brian Snyder

WASHINGTON - One interesting tidbit that came out of the exit polling from Pennsylvania Democratic voters is that a large majority believe the U.S. economy is already in recession — contrary what the current president said on Tuesday.
    
A whopping 88 percent of voters in Pennsylvania — a state trying to transition from steel and coal industries to high-tech and medical research — said the U.S. economy was in a recession, with 42 percent saying it was a serious recession and 47 percent said it was a moderate contraction, according to exit poll data on CNN’s Web site (page 5 of data).
 
On Tuesday, President George W. Bush cited the most recent economic data showing small growth in the fourth quarter of 2007. But he also acknowledged that the first quarter figures had not yet been released.
 
“We’re not in a recession.  We’re in a slowdown,” Bush said after meetings with leaders of Canada and Mexico. “We haven’t had first quarter growth statistics yet. But there’s no question we’re in a slowdown.”
 
Democratic presidential hopefuls Sens. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama have both said the economy was in a recession as has Republican presumptive nominee Sen. John McCain.
 
But White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said on Wednesday such pronouncements were a little early in the game. 
    
“We don’t have data yet and it’s a little premature to declare it so definitively as a recession because the data isn’t in,” she told reporters.
 
The Commerce Department is due to release the GDP figures for the first quarter on April 30, which is also when the U.S. Federal Reserve’s interest rate-setting committee will announce whether it is cutting rates again. 

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- Photo credit: Reuters/Mario Anzuoni (shoppers browse food aisles at discount retailer Wal-mart.)