President Obama's job approval rating remains at 51% in the latest Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll, while the number of people who think the country is headed in the right direction has dropped to 36%.

Obama now has a 51.7% job approval in the RealClearPolitics Average.

The survey (Oct. 22-25, 1009 A, MoE +/- 3.1%), released tonight, shows the mood of the country remains low since its peak in April, when 43% felt the country was on the right track and 61% approved of Obama's job performance. Obama's handling of the economy, foreign policy and health care remain largely unchanged since last month.

On health care, 42% say Obama's health care plan is a bad idea -- 4 points more than say it's a good one -- and 40% believe health care quality will decline as a result, which is twice as high as those who think it will get better. Nearly half think the cost of health care will go up as a result, while just 13% think it will decrease.

Still, more people (45%) think it would be better to pass Obama's plan than for things to remain the same (39%). And nearly half (48%) favor "a public health care plan administered by the federal government that would compete directly with private health insurance companies."

While Congress remains in a fierce fight over how to go about reforming the health care system, two-thirds of the country continues to disapprove of the job the legislative body is doing.

Despite Congress's poor rating, the public doesn't appear to be taking it all out on Democrats, who hold a filibuster-proof majority in the Senate and a 79-seat edge in the House. Asked who they would prefer control Congress after the 2010 midterm elections, 46% said Democrats and 38% said Republicans. The 8-point gap is an increase from last month when Democrats led by just 3 points.

However, the anti-incumbent mood remains, as 49% said it's time to give a new person a chance rather than their current representative be re-elected, which 41% said should happen.

President Barack Obama yesterday speaking to the troops in Jacksonville:

I won't risk your lives unless it is absolutely necessary.  (Applause.)  And if it is necessary, we will back you up to the hilt.  Because you deserve the strategy, the clear mission, and the defined goals as well as the equipment and support that you need to get the job done.  We are not going to have a situation in which you are not fully supported back here at home.  That is a promise that I will always make to you.  (Applause.)

Senator (and candidate) Obama eight hundred and ninety-four days ago:

Clinton, Obama to Back Vote to Cut Off Funding for Troops in Iraq

By Shailagh Murray
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, May 16, 2007

Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton (N.Y.) and  Barack Obama (Ill.) announced yesterday that they will support a symbolic vote to cut off funding for combat troops in Iraq within a year, an important shift for both Democratic presidential candidates as the war debate on Capitol Hill intensifies. [snip]

Obama said he will support both Democratic measures "because I want to send a strong statement to the Iraqi government, the president and my Republican colleagues that it's long past time to change course."

This piece of political analysis helps explain why Bob Shrum is 0 for life in presidential races.

In a nutshell, Shrum says Blue Dogs would have fared better in 1994 if they had embraced HillaryCare and that Creigh Deeds would be more competitive in Virginia today if he'd just man up, stop acting like a moderate and embrace Nancy Pelosi's, Harry Reid's, and Barack Obama's plan for health care.

Yep, that'll surely do the trick - even though as Chris Cillizza points out a majority of voters (53%) oppose the proposed changes to the health care system, and 44% strongly oppose them.

SurveyUSA's latest (Oct 25-26) shows Republican Bob McDonnell leading Democrat Creigh Deeds by 17 points, 58 to 41. The fact that McDonnell's big lead is actually a tiny tightening compared to SurveyUSA's last poll (McDonnell +19) is of small consolation to Deeds.

Overall, with one week to go McDonnell's lead over Deeds in the RCP Average is 10.8%.

"First of all, I don't think people quite understand, Nancy Pelosi is not simply the first woman Speaker of the House -- I think she's going to go down as one of the greatest Speakers of all time. (Applause.) And she's very nice and she's very friendly, but, boy, she is tough. (Laughter.) And that's what you need when you're putting up with all the criticism and the carping and the griping -- and that's from the Democrats. (Laughter.) I mean, you should see what she has to put up with -- from the Republicans. So I could not have a better partner in trying to move the country than Nancy Pelosi." - President Obama at a Democratic fundraiser in Miami last night.

The other day Joe Klein wrote:

Let me be precise here: Fox News peddles a fair amount of hateful crap. Some of it borders on sedition. Much of it is flat out untrue.

Bill O'Reilly asked Klein to come on his program and back up that claim, but a rep told O'Reilly that Klein was "unavailable." Now who's peddling untruths again?

UPDATE: My apologies. It looks like Klein really is unavailable, traveling overseas. I look forward to seeing him defending his statement on the O'Reilly Factor when he returns.

The latest Rasmussen Reports poll on the New Jersey gubernatorial race shows Republican Chris Christie leading Jon Corzine by three points, 46%-43%.  Perhaps the biggest news is that Independent candidate Chris Daggett has slipped to 7%.  It's one poll, but this could be an indication that Christie's tactic of attacking Daggett is beginning to bear fruit.

Also notable, among "certain" voters, Christie leads by eight.

UPDATE FROM TOM: PPP is also out with a new survey in New Jersey showing Christie leading Corzine by 4 points, 42 to 38. This is a slight improvement for Christie over PPP's last survey (40 to 39), while Daggett's support has remained constant at 13 percent.

For the second time in two days, a poll released by a conservative group finds Conservative Party nominee Doug Hoffman leading the Nov. 3 special election race for New York's 23rd District. Neighborhood Research polled the district for Minuteman PAC, the political arm of the Minuteman Movement, which has endorsed Hoffman and is airing ads on his behalf.

Hoffman leads Democrat Bill Owens by 5 points and GOP nominee Dede Scozzafava by 20 points.

Hoffman 34
Owens 29
Scozzafava 14
Und 23

The poll was taken Oct. 25-26 of 366 likely voters. The three candidates are vying to replace former congressman John McHugh (R-N.Y.), who was appointed by President Obama to be Secretary of the Army.

Club for Growth, a fiscally conservative group, released a poll yesterday showing Hoffman up 4 points. CfG has also endorsed Hoffman in the race.

With just over one week to go before election day, a new Washington Post poll of the Virginia Governor's race shows Republican Bob McDonnell leading Democrat Creigh Deeds by double digits, 55 to 44. The eleven-point lead is a slight improvement for McDonnell versus the WaPo's last survey three weeks ago showing him with a 9-point lead, 53 to 44.

Overall, McDonnell now leads Deeds in the RCP Average by 11.2%.

The poll paints a fairly grim picture for Deeds' prospects in turning things around in the final week of the campaign. First and foremost there is the enthusiasm gap favoring the Republican: 39% of McDonnell's supporters say they are "very excited" about voting for McDonnell, while only 22% say the same for Deeds.

McDonnell also leads Deeds across a host of issues: +17 on the economy and jobs;  +16 on transportation issues; +25 on taxes. And, to give you an idea of just how badly the Deeds campaign failed in its effort to use McDonnell's 25-year old thesis to damage the Republican with women voters, McDonnell leads Deeds 49-42 on "issues of special concern to women."

Tim Pawlenty is endorsing Conservative Party nominee Doug Hoffman in the Nov. 3 special election for New York's 23rd District, according to RedState.com. Pawlenty, who's angling for a 2012 presidential bid, becomes the first sitting Republican governor to endorse Hoffman over the Republican nominee, Dede Scozzafava.

"We cannot send more politicians to Washington who wear the Republican jersey on the campaign trail, but then vote like Democrats in Congress on issues like card check and taxes," Pawlenty said in a statement to RedState. "After reviewing the candidates' positions, I'm endorsing Doug Hoffman in New York's special election. Doug understands the federal government needs to quit spending so much, will vote against tax increases, and protect key values like the right to vote in private in union elections."

Hoffman has previously been endorsed by former Alaska governor Sarah Palin, and he has the backing of Club for Growth, which is airing ads in the district and released a poll today showing Hoffman in the lead.

"What makes this stand out even more than the Palin endorsement is that Pawlenty has not been seen as diverging with the Republican establishment," wrote RedState's Erick Erickson. "He's not seen as the maverick that Palin is. But Pawlenty has a huge amount of stature inside the Republican establishment, more so than Palin. That he is now willing to come out in favor of Hoffman is going to resonate among the Republican establishment in ways Palin's endorsement will not."

Democrats are hoping the divide in the GOP base between Hoffman and Scozzafava -- whom conservatives consider a liberal -- will splinter the vote in favor of Democratic nominee Bill Owens.