BUSH APPROVAL RATING HITS 50%

President Bush's approval ratings have been on a steady upwards tick recently and has hit a 50% approval rating on Rasmussen's most recent polling figures.

In Minnesota, Rasmussen is reporting that the Senate race is a toss up.

January 28, 2006--In the scramble to take over the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by retiring Democratic Senator Mark Dayton, likely Republican nominee Representative Mark Kennedy is neck-and-neck with DFL county attorney Amy Klobuchar. (The Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party or DFL is the state's equivalent of the Democratic Party.)

The latest Rasmussen Reports election poll shows Klobuchar at 43% and Kennedy at 42%. Kennedy leads DFL philanthropist and veterinarian Ford Bell by 41% to 36% (see crosstabs)..

In our previous Minnesota survey, Klobuchar was ahead of Kennedy by 7 percentage points and Kennedy led Bell by 10.