Poll: 56% believe U.S. on the wrong track

The latest edition of The George Washington University Battleground Poll offers some sobering news for Democrats, who are headed for major loses in Congress in 2010 if they continue to push a big government, higher taxes, massive deficit agenda.

The GW Poll finds a majority of voters (56%) believing that the country is on the wrong track.

Top areas of concern are the economy and jobs, health care costs, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and the federal budget deficit.

More from the poll:

Looking ahead to the 2010 Congressional Elections, the Republican Party now enjoys a two point advantage (42%-40%) on the Congressional generic ballot.

However, voters are closely divided on their preference for a divided government (41%) or for a unified government (38%). In addition, a majority (68%) of voters disapprove of the job performance of Congress. This is an eleven point increase in Congressional job disapproval since the last Battleground survey was conducted in July.

President Obama has a job approval rating at 50%, while his personal approval rating is 67%, and he has a 56% favorable rating on name identification.

On other name identification scores, Republicans in Congress (41% favorable/46% unfavorable) trail the Democrats in Congress (43% favorable/49% unfavorable). Among other figures tested, Joe Biden is nine points net positive (49% favorable/40% unfavorable) while Sarah Palin is one point net negative (45% favorable/46% unfavorable).

A split sample series of questions asked the public to rate how well the Republicans in Congress and President Obama were handling a variety of policy issues. President Obama has an advantage on being honest and trustworthy (+15), promoting energy independence (+9), reforming health care (+8), turning the economy around (+6) and sharing your values (+1). Republicans in Congress enjoy an advantage over President Obama on controlling wasteful spending (+7), promoting a strong national defense (+15) and holding down taxes (+18).

On a series of health care questions, sixty percent (60%) indicate that they currently have private health care insurance, while thirty-one percent (31%) have government health insurance and seven percent (7%) do not have health insurance. Among those who have private insurance, ninety-one percent (91%) indicate that they are "satisfied" with the quality of health care they and their family receive.

For more poll results and analysis, follow the link below:

GW Battleground Provides Initial Insights in the 2010 Elections