Big. Freaking. News.

A new Rasmussen Poll on the Massachusetts senate race has just been published. Coakley is at 49% and Brown is at 47%.

The best part? Brown is leading among independents by 71% to 23%!!!

The Massachusetts’ special U.S. Senate election has gotten tighter, but the general dynamics remain the same.

A new Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of likely voters in the state finds Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley attracting 49% of the vote while her Republican rival, state Senator Scott Brown, picks up 47%.

Three percent (3%) say they’ll vote for independent candidate Joe Kennedy, and two percent (2%) are undecided. The independent is no relation to the late Edward M. Kennedy, whose Senate seat the candidates are battling to fill in next Tuesday’s election.

Coakley is supported by 77% of Democrats while Brown picks up the vote from 88% of Republicans. Among voters not affiliated with either major party, Brown leads 71% to 23%. To be clear, this lead is among unaffiliated voters who are likely to participate in the special election.

Oof. That’s gonna leave a mark…

Washington (CNN) – Americans are giving Barack Obama a split decision on his first year in office, according to a new national poll.

Forty-eight percent of people questioned in a CNN/Opinion Research Corporation survey released Tuesday say Obama’s presidency has been a failure so far, with 47 percent saying Obama has been a success. The poll’s January 12 release comes just 8 days before Obama marks one year in the White House.

There’s been a lot of talk recently about accuracy and polls. I don’t see how the White House can go after CNN though.

Rasmussen’s Daily Tracking poll still has Obama in the negative double digits as well.

It’s still too early and murky to say one way or the other how the Massachusetts special senate election is going to go on January 19th but Rasmussen released a new poll today that shows Coakley’s lead over Brown has shrunk to less than ten percent.

That’s amazing….

State Attorney General Martha Coakley holds a nine-point lead over her Republican rival, state Senator Scott Brown, in Massachusetts’ special U.S. Senate election to fill the seat of the late Edward M. Kennedy.

A new Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of likely voters in the state finds Coakley ahead of Brown 50% to 41%. One percent (1%) prefer some other candidate, and seven percent (7%) are undecided.

The special Senate election will be held on January 19 and special elections typically feature low turnout. That’s one reason the race appears to be a bit closer than might typically be expected for a Senate race in Massachusetts. Kennedy carried 69% of the vote when he was reelected in 2006.

Massachusetts voters in the Boston Metro area tend to vote overwhelmingly for Democrats, but this is a special election in more ways than one. There are at least 3 good reasons why MA voters could defy history and give the election to Scott Brown.

1. Many MA voters are just as fed up as the rest of the country with the Democrat agenda of big spending, big government and big bills rushed through in the middle of the night. They know that a win for Scott Brown pulls an emergency brake on the Democrat runaway train.

2. MA Governor Deval Patrick is very unpopular with MA voters right now. He has broken pledges not to raise taxes and doesn’t have a lot to show for his time as governor. People in MA are not happy.

3. Martha Coakley doesn’t really have much to show for her record. If people were excited about her as a candidate, she would have a much more commanding lead over Brown. She’s trying to coast into office based on the “D” after her name. Under normal circumstances, that might work. These are not normal circumstances.

We’ll know how this story ends on January 19th. Scott Brown is campaigning like a trooper, traveling the state and doing lots of media interviews. As someone who lives in the Bay State, I can tell you that I hear a lot of people talking about Scott Brown, not his opponent.

More at Memeorandum.

What happens when the Democrats don’t like the poll results reported by the most accurate pollster in the United States?

They attack the pollster, of course….

“Democrats are turning their fire on Scott Rasmussen, the prolific independent pollster whose surveys on elections, President Obama’s popularity and a host of other issues are surfacing in the media with increasing frequency.”

“The pointed attacks reflect a hardening conventional wisdom among prominent liberal bloggers and many Democrats that Rasmussen Reports polls are, at best, the result of a flawed polling model and, at worst, designed to undermine Democratic politicians and the party’s national agenda.”

Obama’s tanking poll numbers can’t possibly have anything to do with his agenda or his stupid policy decisions.

It must be racism.

How’s that “historic” healthcare legislation working out for you?

“The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Tuesday shows that 25% of the nation’s voters Strongly Approve of the way that Barack Obama is performing his role as President. Forty-six percent (46%) Strongly Disapprove giving Obama a Presidential Approval Index rating of -21 That’s the lowest Approval Index rating yet recorded for this President.”

Gateway Pundit points out that at the end of George W. Bush’s second term, his disapproval rating was 43%.

Obama’s is currently 46%. Ouch.

Not good.

“The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Sunday shows that 23% of the nation’s voters Strongly Approve of the way that Barack Obama is performing his role as President. Forty-two percent (42%) Strongly Disapprove giving Obama a Presidential Approval Index rating of -19.

Today is the second straight day that Obama’s Approval Index rating has fallen to a new low. Prior to the past two days, the Approval Index had never fallen below -15 during Obama’s time in office.”

The continual push for agenda items and legislation the American people don’t want has pushed Obama’s approval rating down to a new low…

“The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Saturday shows that 25% 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 -16. That’s the lowest Approval Index rating yet recorded for this President.”

Not that the Tea Party and the GOP are automatically joining forces, they’re not… yet. But if and when they do, they spell certain doom for Dems.

A new Rasmussen Poll on the generic ballot has the math:

“Running under the Tea Party brand may be better in congressional races than being a Republican.”

“In a three-way Generic Ballot test, the latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds Democrats attracting 36% of the vote. The Tea Party candidate picks up 23%, and Republicans finish third at 18%. Another 22% are undecided.”

“Among voters not affiliated with either major party, the Tea Party comes out on top.”

The Tea Party is made up of Libertarians, Republicans, Democrats and Independents who have a few things in common: Love of country, love of liberty, a desire for fiscal conservatism in Washington, DC and a rejection of government expansion.

If a candidate can piece those items together and unite those factions, he or she will be unstoppable.

Via Memeorandum.

Yesterday, Rasmussen Reports sent out the grim word on Obama’s lowest approval index so far. -15

“The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Tuesday shows that 27% of the nation’s voters Strongly Approve of the way that Barack Obama is performing his role as President. Forty-two percent (42%) Strongly Disapprove giving Obama a Presidential Approval Index rating of -15. This is the lowest Approval Index rating yet measured for President Obama.”

Now USA Today is noting Obama’s fall in the polls based on his dithering over Afghanistan.

“WASHINGTON — Public approval of President Obama’s handling of the war in Afghanistan has plummeted, a USA TODAY/Gallup Poll finds, amid rising pessimism about the course of the conflict.”

“The nation is divided over what to do next: Nearly half of those surveyed endorse deploying thousands of additional U.S. troops, while four in 10 say it’s time to begin withdrawing forces.”

“The mixed picture comes as the president weighs a request from the top U.S. commander for about 40,000 more troops. Obama said Tuesday he would announce his decision after Thanksgiving.”

Below is the picture that accompanies the USA Today article. Notice Obama is no longer positioned to look like he has a halo. Coincidence?

It’s a tough time to be Harry Reid.

Public support for ObamaCare is going down like a lead sinker on a fishing line.

“Just 38% of voters now favor the health care plan proposed by President Obama and congressional Democrats. That’s the lowest level of support measured for the plan in nearly two dozen tracking polls conducted since June.”

“The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 56% now oppose the plan.”

What’s that old Dylan lyric? “You don’t need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows.” Pun intended, Mr. Ayers.

Speaking of Bill Ayers, doesn’t this headline from February 2008 completely discredit Politico’s Ben Smith???