I'm not sure how much it's going to help - if at all. But it is interesting to see the President of the United states jump into the fray in one of the bluest states in the country, gin up the '08 stump speech, and to try and stem the tide of what amounts to a grass roots uprising against his agenda and the policies of his administration:

A new survey from Research 2000 (500 LVs, 1/12-13, MoE +/- 4%), conducted for the liberal blog Blue Mass Group, should put Democrats a bit more at ease about the upcoming special election for U.S. Senate.

Special Election Matchup
Coakley (D) 49
Brown (R) 41
Kennedy (I) 5
Und 5

State Sen. Scott Brown carries independents by a margin of 49-36, while both candidates score in the low-to-mid 80s within their own parties. Brown does, however, crack double-digits among Democrats with 12%.

BMG points out that their poll is the only one conducted since Monday's televised debate.

So far only one poll this week has shown Brown ahead, but strategists in both parties say turnout for the election, taking place on the day after a federal holiday in mid-winter, will be a crucial variable.

If Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman (I) ran on the Democratic ticket for Senate this year instead of Sen. Harry Reid, he would be in better position to win the seat than the current Senate majority leader. In a new PPP poll (Jan. 11-12, 763 RV, MoE +/- 3.6%), Goodman leads former state GOP chair Sue Lowden and ties Danny Tarkanian, while Reid trails both.

Reid has a 36% approval rating, with 58% disapproving of his job performance. President Obama fares better with a 44%/52% approval rating.

Other Dems tested -- in case Reid drops out as Connecticut Sen. Chris Dodd did -- were Rep. Shelley Berkley and Secretary of State Ross Miller, who both performed similarly to Reid.

Reid 41 - Lowden 51 - Und 8
Reid 42 - Tarkanian 50 - Und 8

Goodman 42 - Lowden 40 - Und 18
Goodman 41 - Tarkanian 41 - Und 18

Berkley 38 - Lowden 46 - Und 17
Berkley 39 - Tarkanian 47 - Und 14

Miller 34 - Lowden 44 - Und 23
Miller 34 - Tarkanian 45 - Und 22

Tarkanian holds a 10.0-point lead over Reid in the RCP Average, and Lowden leads Reid by 10.7 points.

Pew Research's latest survey shows President Obama's job approval rating at 49% - unchanged from its last poll in November. Forty-two percent disapprove of the job Obama is doing, up two points from November.

Broken down by party, Pew's numbers show Independents contining to sour on the President, with just 39% approving of the job he is doing - an all time low. Democrats remain hugely in favor of Obama (84%), while just 15% of  Republicans say they approve of the President.

Overall, Obama's job approval rating is 47.7% in the RCP National Average - an all time low.

On specific issues Obama has lost majority support on all but one according to Pew:

Immigration 30
Budget Deficit 32
Health Care 38
Economy 42
Foreign Policy 44
Iraq 45
Afghanistan 45
Energy 45
Terrorism 51

Pew points out that the Christmas Day terror attack did not hurt Obama's image in any measurable way, and he still is viewed favorably as a person by a majority of those surveyed despite the fact his policy related ratings declined steadily last year and are now at all time lows.

Democrats have a crisis of confidence on health care reform, according to new poll by the Pew Research Center.

Only 39% of the public believes their ability to get coverage with a pre-existing medical condition would improve if the bill becomes law. Only a third of the public believes the legislation will make it easier for them to obtain health insurance if they change jobs or lose their job. Only about a fifth of the public believes reform will lessen their “out of pocket costs.” Less than a fifth believe their “quality of care” will improve, their choice of doctors or hospitals will improve or the time they wait for appointments.

It explains why a majority disapproves, 52%, of President Obama's handling of health care policy (only 38% approve). More of the public continues to oppose the bill than support it, 48% to 39% respectively. The bad numbers come as Democratic leaders continue to privately negotiate the final details of health care reform. Obama meets with House Democrats at 5 p.m. today.

In general, one year into his presidency, the president has lost the majority on a range of issues, with the exception of terrorism, but remains personally well regarded by the public.

A majority, 51%, approves of Obama's handling of the threat of terrorism. But other issues, like health care, fall well lower. Obama's handling of the budget deficit: 32% approve. Immigration policy: 30%. His handling of Afghanistan: 45% (notably higher than November's 35%).

By contrast, Obama's personal ratings remain strong. About eight in 10 view Obama as warm, friendly and a good communicator. Seven in 10 say he is well informed and well organized. Six in 10 adults say Obama is trustworthy, a strong leader and able to get things done.

Overall, Pew finds Obama's job approval rating unchanged at 49%, generally matching other public polls.

A new poll finds President Obama's approval rating at 47%, with 45% disapproving. Also, a majority of adults (55%) now think the country is on the wrong track, with just 34% believing things are heading in the right direction.

The Allstate/National Journal Heartland Monitor Poll, conducted by FD (Jan. 3-7, 1200 A, MoE +/- 2.8%), shows Obama's approval continuing to diminish, from 52% in September, 56% in July and 61% in April. April 2009 was also the last month more people felt the country was moving in the right direction.

Obama now has a 47.5% RCP Average Job Approval.

If the 2012 elections were held today, just 39% say they would vote to re-elect Obama -- including 23% who say they would definitely vote for him. Fifty percent say they would vote against him.

However, Americans still trust Obama (41%) more than Republicans in Congress (33%) to solve the country's economic problems, though the margin has decreased over the last nine months. Also, 52% say -- after looking back over the last 12 months -- the country is not necessarily better off yet, but is headed in the right direction because of policies Obama has pursued. And 36% say the country would be in about the same shape if John McCain were president, more than those who say it would be better or worse.

On health care, 44% now support the Democratic proposal for reform currently being worked out between the two chambers of Congress. That's down 5 points since September. Forty-six percent oppose the plan, up 4 points.

Any race in Ohio is always going to be a major focus nationally, and that is surely the case with this year's open-seat Senate race. Rasmussen's latest survey (500 LVs, 1/12, MoE +/- 4.5%) shows former Rep. and OMB Director Rob Portman (R) leading each of his potential Democratic foes, Lt. Gov. Lee Fisher and Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner.

General Election Matchups
Portman 44 (+6 vs. last survey, 12/7)
Fisher 37 (+1)
Und 14 (-4)

Portman 43 (+3)
Brunner 40 (+7)
Und 13 (-7)

Fisher is the pick so far of most establishment Ohio Democrats, while Brunner has struggled to raise money. But this result seems to show that Brunner might actually be the better general election candidate, something she says Democrats have conceded to her privately.

Favorable Ratings
Portman 49 / 25
Fisher 41 / 39
Brunner 37 / 39

In the Buckeye State, 18 percent strongly favor Democrats health care plan while a whopping 49 percent strongly oppose it. President Obama's approval rating is 46 percent compared to 54 percent who disapprove. Gov. Ted Strickland (D), seeking re-election this fall, has a 43 percent approval rating; 54 percent disapprove.

Quinnipiac has its first numbers (1,430 RVs, 1/8-12, MoE +/- 2.6%) on the Connecticut Senate race since Chris Dodd (D) announced he would not seek re-election last week. The results show why Democrats were so eager to see Attorney General Richard Blumenthal jump in to replace the embattled incumbent.

General Election Matchups
Blumenthal 62 -- Simmons 27 -- Und 10
Blumenthal 64 -- McMahon 23 -- Und 11
Blumenthal 66 -- Schiff 19 -- Und 14

Consider that in a November poll, Dodd trailed former Rep. Rob Simmons 49-38 and former WWE CEO Linda McMahon 43-41. Suddenly that GOP primary doesn't look worth winning, but here's how that contest shapes up:

Primary Election Matchup
Simmons 37 (+9)
McMahon 27 (+10)
Schiff 4 (-1)
Und 28 (-8)

Blumenthal has a whopping 74 percent favorable rating. Even among Republicans, the attorney general's net favorable rating is +33.

Favorable Ratings
Blumenthal 74 / 13
Simmons 36 / 18
McMahon 24 / 21
Schiff 8 / 5

The survey also finds that President Obama has a 55 percent job approval rating; 41 percent disapprove. Sen. Joe Lieberman (I), who faces re-election in 2012, has an upside-down 39 percent approval rating, with 54 percent disapproving. Dodd's is similar, 36 percent / 58 percent.

Retiring Gov. Jodi Rell (R) has a 64 percent job approval rating.

The AP is reporting that possibly as many as a half million could be dead from the Haiti earthquake. One New York Times paragraph captures the tragedy:

Limbs protruded from disintegrated concrete, muffled cries emanated from deep inside the wrecks of buildings — many of them poorly constructed in the first place — as Haiti struggled to grasp the unknown toll from its worst earthquake in more than 200 years.

Red Cross, among so many aid groups, requesting donations.

Greg Sargent cites a raft of new polls to show that - at least regarding the issue of terrorism, President Obama isn't "disengaged from the electorate." To be more precise, Sargent critiques the meme that popped up after the Christmas Day terror attack that Obama's response was too "cool" or "detached" or "Spock-like." Fine.

But those same polls also provide ample evidence that on another important area - perhaps the most important area to his electoral hopes - President Obama is terribly detached from the electorate.

To wit: today's Quinnipiac poll shows that only 36% approve of the way Obama is handling the issue of "creating jobs" while six in ten disapprove. Incidentally, that's a net 6-point decline for Obama on this question from just one month ago.

Forty-seven percent of those surveyed in the Quinnipiac survey - including a majority of Indpendents - say Obama has not spent enough time tending to the economy.

In the most recent CNN poll, the economy is the number one issue of importance to those surveyed by an order of magnitude, as it has been in every poll taken since President Obama entered office. Yet solid majorities in the CNN poll disapprove of the way Obama is handling the economy (54%), unemployment (54%), and the deficit (62%).

Ditto the most recent CBS News/NY Times poll, where 44% say "the economy and jobs" are the most important problem facing the country and 47% disapprove of the way the President is handling the issue of the economy.

After a full year of almost exclusively focusing on health care - an issue that only 10-15% of voters say is most important to them to begin with and only 38.7% of the public now approves of the bills being rammed through Congress -  it's no wonder 50% of voters in both the CNN and the Quinnipiac polls now say they do not believe President Obama shares their views on the issue of most importance to them.

Put another way, President Obama demonstrated during his first year in office that he either didn't understand the concerns of the electorate or, worse still, he ignored those concerns to pursue his own agenda.