Some tidbits from within the 202:

• German industrial giant Siemens has announced it will quit doing business with Iran. “The board has decided not to conclude new contracts with commercial partners in Iran,” company spokesman Alexander Becker told Agence France-Presse. Siemens sold about $700 million worth of goods to Iranian companies each year, according to Reuters.

             In December, German customs officers reportedly found turbo compressors bound for Iran from a Siemens branch in Sweden. Investigators said they could have been used in Iran’s missile program.

• The National Republican Senatorial Committee raised more funds than its Democratic counterpart for the third month in a row in December. The NRSC brought in $4.1 million, while the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee raised $3.4 million, CQ Politics reports. The DSCC outraised the NRSC for the year, however, bringing in about $43.6 million in 2009 to the Republican Committee’s $41.2 million.
• 45 percent of likely voters now agree that a group of people chosen at random from a telephone book would do a better job of dealing with the nation’s problems than the current Congress, a Rasmussen Reports poll reveals.

             Only 36 percent disagree, and 19 percent are not sure.

             Back in October 2008, just before the last congressional elections, 33 percent said a random group would be better than Congress.

             Rasmussen also found that 60 percent of voters think members of Congress are paid too much, while just 3 percent say they are paid too little.

             Most members of the House and Senate are paid $174,000 a year. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi is the highest paid member of Congress, earning $223,500.

As if President Obama couldn’t get any lower, a poll commissioned by Rasmussen Reports has Obama near the dreaded -20 mark – minus 19, to be exact.

The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Saturday shows that 24% of the nation’s voters Strongly Approve of the way that Barack Obama is performing his role as President. Forty-three percent (43%) Strongly Disapprove giving Obama a Presidential Approval Index rating of -19.

These figures come from nightly telephone surveys and are reported on a three-day rolling average basis. Today’s update is the first based entirely upon interviews following Tuesday’s election in Massachusetts and the Approval Index has fallen eight points since Tuesday morning.

The number of Democrats who Strongly Approve has fallen from 55% on Tuesday morning to 48% today. The number of unaffiliated voters who Strongly Disapprove has increased from 43% on Tuesday to 51% today. It remains to be seen whether those changes are a temporary reaction in the wake of a stunning election upset or the beginning of a more lasting change.

Sixty-one percent (61%) of voters nationwide now say Congress should drop health care and focus on the economy. Seventy percent (70%) believe that the health care issue was at least somewhat important in Scott Brown’s victory in Massachusetts. Rasmussen Reports issued our final tracking poll for the proposed health care reform and found that 58% of voters remain opposed to the plan Congress was considering. That figure includes 50% who are Strongly Opposed.

The Presidential Approval Index is calculated by subtracting the number who Strongly Disapprove from the number who Strongly Approve. It is updated daily at 9:30 a.m. Eastern. Updates are also available on Twitter and Facebook.

Overall, 44% of voters say they at least somewhat approve of the President’s performance. That’s down four points since Tuesday morning and matches the lowest level of overall approval yet recorded for this President. Fifty-five percent (55%) of voters now disapprove. The number of Democrats who approve has fallen from 84% on Tuesday morning to 78% today (see other recent demographic highlights).

New polling released yesterday shows that the Governor’s race in California could be competitive. In Arizona’s Republican Primary, John McCain has opened a big lead over potential challenger J.D. Hayworth.

Forty-five percent (45%) of voters believe General Motors will need more government bailouts.

It is important to remember that the Rasmussen Reports job approval ratings are based upon a sample of likely voters. Some other firms base their approval ratings on samples of all adults. President Obama’s numbers are always several points higher in a poll of adults rather than likely voters. That’s because some of the President’s most enthusiastic supporters, such as young adults, are less likely to turn out to vote. It is also important to check the details of question wording when comparing approval ratings from different firms.

Daily tracking results are collected via telephone surveys of 500 likely voters per night and reported on a three-day rolling average basis. The margin of sampling error—for the full sample of 1,500 Likely Voters–is +/- 3 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence.

Like all polling firms, Rasmussen Reports weights its data to reflect the population at large. Among other targets, Rasmussen Reports weights data by political party affiliation using a dynamic weighting process. While partisan affiliation is generally quite stable over time, there are a fair number of people who waver between allegiance to a particular party or independent status. Over the past five years, the number of Democrats in the country has increased while the number of Republicans has decreased.

Our baseline targets are established based upon separate survey interviews with a sample of adults nationwide completed during the preceding three months (a total of 45,000 interviews) and targets are updated monthly. Currently, the baseline targets for the adult population are 37.1% Democrats, 32.4% Republicans, and 30.5% unaffiliated. Likely voter samples typically show a slightly smaller advantage for the Democrats.

Thanks to a multitude of problems dogging President Obama, capped by Scott Brown’s election to the Massachusetts Senate seat once held by the late Ted Kennedy, the POTUS’ popularity has once again taken a hit.

The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Friday shows that 25% of the nation’s voters Strongly Approve of the way that Barack Obama is performing his role as President. Forty-three percent (43%) Strongly Disapprove giving Obama a Presidential Approval Index rating of -18. Larry Sabato takes a look at Obama’s first year in office.

Later today, Rasmussen Reports will issue a tracking update on the health care issue showing that expectations the legislation will pass have fallen dramatically since Tuesday’s election in Massachusetts. Since Nancy Pelosi has indicated that there are not enough votes in the House to pass the Senate proposal, this will be their final tracking update on the current legislation. If the Democrats in Congress develop a new approach for health care legislation, they will resume tracking at that time.

Forty-five percent (45%) believe General Motors will need more government bailouts.

The Presidential Approval Index is calculated by subtracting the number who Strongly Disapprove from the number who Strongly Approve. It is updated daily at 9:30 a.m. Eastern (sign up for free daily e-mail update). Updates are also available on Twitter and Facebook.

Overall, 45% of voters say they at least somewhat approve of the President’s performance. Fifty-four percent (54%) disapprove.

In the Pennsylvania Senate race, Pat Toomey now leads both Arlen Specter and Joe Sestak. In Arizona, John McCain has opened a big lead over potential challenger J.D. Hayworth. In Georgia, if former Governor Roy Barnes is the Democratic nominee, the race for Governor could begin as a toss-up.

It is important to remember that the Rasmussen Reports job approval ratings are based upon a sample of likely voters. Some other firms base their approval ratings on samples of all adults. President Obama’s numbers are always several points higher in a poll of adults rather than likely voters. That’s because some of the President’s most enthusiastic supporters, such as young adults, are less likely to turn out to vote. It is also important to check the details of question wording when comparing approval ratings from different firms.

Like all polling firms, Rasmussen Reports weights its data to reflect the population at large. Among other targets, Rasmussen Reports weights data by political party affiliation using a dynamic weighting process. While partisan affiliation is generally quite stable over time, there are a fair number of people who waver between allegiance to a particular party or independent status. Over the past five years, the number of Democrats in the country has increased while the number of Republicans has decreased.

Our baseline targets are established based upon separate survey interviews with a sample of adults nationwide completed during the preceding three months (a total of 45,000 interviews) and targets are updated monthly. Currently, the baseline targets for the adult population are 37.1% Democrats, 32.4% Republicans, and 30.5% unaffiliated. Likely voter samples typically show a slightly smaller advantage for the Democrats.

The use of taxpayer funds to pay for abortions has been one of the most contentious issues surrounding the healthcare reform debate, but the position of the great majority of Americans is clear: They oppose it.

A new Quinnipiac University poll of likely voters found that 72 percent do not approve of allowing abortions to be paid for with public funds under any healthcare system created by the federal government.

The survey asked respondents, “Do you support or oppose allowing abortions to be paid for by public funds under a healthcare reform bill?”

Only 23 percent said they support the idea, and 5 percent did not know.

“Although a small majority favors abortion rights, allowing the use of public money for the procedure under a national healthcare plan, which has been a matter of some dispute in both houses on Congress, is extremely unpopular,” said Pat Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute.

Republicans oppose public funding for abortions by a 91 percent to 5 percent margin. Most Democrats also oppose funding, 54 percent to  38 percent. Among independents, only 23 percent support funding and 74 percent oppose it, according to the poll of more than 1,600 registered voters.

Both the House and Senate versions of the healthcare reform bill contain restrictions on the use of taxpayer dollars for abortions. And the Hyde Amendment, passed in 1976 and renewed consistently since then, bars the use of federal funds for subsidizing abortion within Medicaid.

Despite Republican losses in the last two national elections, polling data indicate that the GOP has the potential for big gains thanks to conservatives’ strength among independent voters, according to pollster John Zogby.

A Zogby International Interactive poll of more than 2,290 likely voters found that twice as many independents identify their political ideology as conservative than as liberal.

Conservatives account for 25 percent of independents, while liberals comprise 13 percent, with almost all the rest saying they are moderates.

Also, independents are much more likely to say that Democrats are too liberal (63 percent) than to say Republicans are too conservative (40 percent). And 28 percent of independents think Republicans should be more conservative, while only 12 percent believe Democrats should be more liberal.

Among Republicans, 58 percent say the party is not conservative enough.

The GOP “has failed to capture a significant number of conservatives and a majority of its own members think it is not conservative enough,” Zogby wrote in his column for Politics magazine.

Democrats need to win significant numbers of moderates to be competitive, he said, adding, “So do Republicans, but not to the same extent.”

“This is the challenge and the opportunity for the Republican Party today. The opportunity lies in the fact that it can grow to both its left as well as its right, and the challenge is to find a strategy that will lead to this growth on both sides,” he said.

The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Tuesday shows that 26% of the nation’s voters Strongly Approve of the way that Barack Obama is performing his role as President. Forty-one percent (41%) Strongly Disapprove giving Obama a Presidential Approval Index rating of -15. Today’s update is a slight improvement after the President’s ratings fell to new lows over the past three days.

Sixty-two percent (62%) believe that Afghanistan will be tougher than Iraq. However, 50% agree with the President’s assertion that it’s a “just war.” Overall, voters remain divided on the President’s strategy, with 37% in favor and 38% opposed. But, 34% now see things getting better in Afghanistan over the next six months.

The Presidential Approval Index is calculated by subtracting the number who Strongly Disapprove from the number who Strongly Approve. 

Overall, 46% of voters say they at least somewhat approve of the President’s performance. Fifty-three percent (53%) now disapprove. See recent demographic highlights from the tracking poll.

As for the health care plan working its way through Congress, public opposition remains stable. Fifty-six percent (56% ) oppose the plan working its way through Congress while just 40% favor it. In Nevada, the health care bill is causing problems for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s bid for re-election.

Rasmussen Reports has released updated polls on the 2010 Senate races in Arkansas, Colorado, Illinois, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and California. Overall, the results confirm the conventional wisdom that the mid-term election season is off to a tough start for the Democrats. The incumbent Democrat trails as well in Colorado. However, there is a long way to go until November.

It is important to remember that the Rasmussen Reports job approval ratings are based upon a sample of likely voters. Some other firms base their approval ratings on samples of all adults. President Obama’s numbers are always several points higher in a poll of adults rather than likely voters. That’s because some of the President’s most enthusiastic supporters, such as young adults, are less likely to turn out to vote. It is also important to check the details of question wording when comparing approval ratings from different firms.

Daily tracking results are collected via telephone surveys of 500 likely voters per night and reported on a three-day rolling average basis. The margin of sampling error—for the full sample of 1,500 Likely Voters–is +/- 3 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence. Results are also compiled on a full-week basis and crosstabs for full-week results are available for Premium Members.

Like all polling firms, Rasmussen Reports weights its data to reflect the population at large (see methodology). Among other targets, Rasmussen Reports weights data by political party affiliation using a dynamic weighting process. While partisan affiliation is generally quite stable over time, there are a fair number of people who waver between allegiance to a particular party or independent status. Over the past five years, the number of Democrats in the country has increased while the number of Republicans has decreased.

Their baseline targets are established based upon separate survey interviews with a sample of adults nationwide completed during the preceding three months (a total of 45,000 interviews) and targets are updated monthly. Currently, the baseline targets for the adult population are 37.1% Democrats, 32.4% Republicans, and 30.5% unaffiliated. Likely voter samples typically show a slightly smaller advantage for the Democrats.

A new poll shows Americans prefer Barack Obama as president over George W. Bush by a margin of only 50 percent to 44 percent, another sign of the president’s waning popularity.

The poll, conducted by Public Policy Polling, also shows Obama with an overall approval rating of 49 percent.

According to Dean Debnam, president of the polling firm:

“There seems to be more and more of a consensus in the polling now that Obama’s approval rating is under 50 percent. Things still aren’t going well in the country, and as time passes voters, are more inclined to take that out on Obama.”

The numbers against Bush are particularly striking, says Taegen Goddard’s Political Wire. Writes Goddard:

“Given the horrendous approval ratings Bush showed during his final term that’s somewhat of a surprise and an indication that voters are increasingly placing the blame on Obama for the country’s difficulties instead of giving him space because of the tough situation he inherited.”

“The closeness in the Obama/Bush numbers also has implications for the 2010 elections. Using the Bush card may not be particularly effective for Democrats anymore, which is good news generally for Republicans.”

According to the most recent New York Times/CBS News poll, Obama’s approval rating is 50 percent, his lowest support level since taking office.

In Gallup’s daily approval rating for Obama, he also stands at 50 percent.