Polls For Tuesday, October 9th

General Election: Romney vs. Obama	Gallup Tracking	Romney 49, Obama 47	Romney +2
General Election: Romney vs. Obama	IBD/TIPP Tracking	Romney 47, Obama 45	Romney +2
General Election: Romney vs. Obama	Rasmussen Tracking	Romney 48, Obama 48	Tie
Ohio: Romney vs. Obama	CNN/Opinion Research	Obama 51, Romney 47	Obama +4
Ohio: Romney vs. Obama	ARG	Obama 47, Romney 48	Romney +1
Pennsylvania: Romney vs. Obama	Siena	Obama 43, Romney 40	Obama +3
Nevada: Romney vs. Obama	Rasmussen Reports	Obama 47, Romney 47	Tie
Colorado: Romney vs. Obama	ARG	Romney 50, Obama 46	Romney +4
Minnesota: Romney vs. Obama	PPP (D)	Obama 53, Romney 43	Obama +10
North Carolina: Romney vs. Obama	Gravis Marketing	Romney 50, Obama 41	Romney +9
Connecticut: Romney vs. Obama	Rasmussen Reports	Obama 51, Romney 45	Obama +6
North Dakota: Romney vs. Obama	Mason-Dixon	Romney 54, Obama 40	Romney +14
Massachusetts: Romney vs. Obama	WBUR/MassINC	Obama 52, Romney 36	Obama +16
Massachusetts Senate - Brown vs. Warren	WBUR/MassINC	Warren 45, Brown 48	Brown +3
North Dakota Senate - Berg vs. Heitkamp	Mason-Dixon	Berg 47, Heitkamp 47	Tie
Connecticut Senate - McMahon vs. Murphy	Rasmussen Reports	Murphy 51, McMahon 46	Murphy +5
Pennsylvania Senate - Smith vs. Casey	Siena	Casey 44, Smith 35	Casey +9
Minnesota Senate - Bills vs. Klobuchar	PPP (D)	Klobuchar 57, Bills 31	Klobuchar +26
North Carolina Governor - McCrory vs. Dalton	Gravis Marketing	McCrory 50, Dalton 33	McCrory +17
North Dakota At-Large - Cramer vs. Gulleson	Mason-Dixon	Cramer 49, Gulleson 37	Cramer +12
President Obama Job Approval	Gallup	Approve 53, Disapprove 42	Approve +11
President Obama Job Approval	Rasmussen Reports	Approve 49, Disapprove 50	Disapprove +1
Obama: Favorable/Unfavorable	ABC News/Wash Post	Favorable 55, Unfavorable 44	Favorable +11
Romney: Favorable/Unfavorable	ABC News/Wash Post	Favorable 47, Unfavorable 51	Unfavorable +4

At first glance, this all looks like bad news for the president. Gallup has him down 2 points with Rasmussen having the race exactly tied. He's also lost some ground in North Carolina and Colorado. Remember that Gallup has now switched from "Registered Voters" to "Likely Voters" so now we can see that enthusiasm gap very, very clearly, favoring the Republicans.

But these are nationwide polls and if we look at a very key swing state like Ohio things look just about the same for the president since before the debate. The new Ohio poll from CNN (taken 10/5-10/8) shows the president up 51-47 with the ARG poll showing Romney up 48-47. The CNN poll is likely voters so that is very good news for the president.

And the president's approval rating has actually increased an overall net of 4 points and now stands at 53 percent. His favorables are still in the plus column while Romney's are still in the minus column. These numbers are now well after the debate which means...what, exactly? I guess I don't know for sure but it does mean not as much doom and gloom for the president because the head to head numbers don't fully reflect the jobs data release as much as the approval/favorable numbers.

One other thing to note here is the Senate picture still looks good for the Democrats. The fact that North Dakota is competitive is truly amazing and an excellent testament to being able to win in a deep red state if you are a good candidate like Heidi Heitkamp.