Approval Rating

Most Americans don't believe Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld should resign after revelations of the abuse of Iraqi prisoners by American soldiers, a new poll indicates. However, a slight majority of those surveyed said they thought the Pentagon tried to cover up the abuse. Sixty-six percent of those surveyed by the University of Pennsylvania's National Annenberg Election Survey said Rumsfeld should not step down. Only 24 percent of the 1,030 adults polled said he should resign.

IT IS REGRETTABLE that the tiresome race issue had to be raised in a recent article in the Daily News regarding Mayor Street and the FBI probe ("Some Suggest Fed Probe Not Colorblind, Oct. 10"). Adding fuel to the fictional fire, U.S. Rep. Chaka Fattah drops ominous hints of "hearings" into the Justice Department's actions. What actions? Have we forgotten that it was the black police commissioner who found the bugs? That if the bugs had not been discovered, there would be no issue at all?

Some statistics of interest gathered by the staff of Harper's magazine: Chances that a Swiss army knife produced this year will be bought by the Swiss Army: 1 in 400. Number of Veterans Administration employees whose salaries exceed $100,000 per year: 7,367. Number of National Public Radio employees whose salaries exceed $100,000: 6. Average age of the three white professional athletes with the largest incomes in the United States last year: 51. Average age of the three black professional athletes with the largest incomes: 27. Average percentage of the federal budget Americans say should be spent on foreign aid: 8. Percentage of the federal budget that actually is: 1. Ratio of federal spending on foreign aid last year to federal spending on the Corporation for Public Broadcasting: 50:1.

TRENTON - New Jersey voters are split down the middle in their opinions of Gov. Christopher J. Christie, according to a new poll released Thursday. The Quinnipiac University Poll finds 44 percent of voters approving of his job performance. Forty-three percent disapprove. Forty-four percent describe the first-term Republican governor as a "leader. " Forty-three percent call him a "bully. " "Like him or not, it's clear Gov. Christopher Christie has brought a New Jersey bounce to the governor's office," said Maurice Carroll, director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute.

HARRISBURG - Gov. Corbett is more popular these days - and he has women to thank for it. A Quinnipiac University poll released today said changing attitudes among women voters has helped give Corbett a 44-36 percent job approval rating, a cushy boost over his dismal 39-38 percent rating in June. And that's better than a lot of his governor colleagues in neighboring states, the survey found: Ohio Gov. John Kasich had only a 35 percent approval rating, with a whopping 50 percent disapproving, as of last month.

Gov. Corbett is the most popular he's ever been - except when he was elected - getting a 50 percent approval rating from voters, according to a Quinnipiac poll released Thursday. Both female and male voters gave the first-term Republican better marks this time around, with women giving his popularity a significant surge. The majority of voters said they like the governor as a person - 53 to 12 percent - and Democrats were among them, saying they like him 39 to 19 percent, with 41 percent undecided.

HOUSTON - George W. Bush is as hard to find in his father's office as he is in the 2012 presidential contest. The 43d president appears in a gold-framed picture tucked into a far corner of the room, partially hidden by a Texas flag and a cabinet door. The placement, whether intentional or not, is a reminder of the Republican presidential campaign and the lengths to which Romney and his rivals have tried to marginalize the two-term president. The younger Bush was an afterthought Thursday as his father, former President George H.W. Bush, met with current GOP front-runner Mitt Romney - until a reporter raised the issue.

President Obama plans to hold a fund-raiser for Senate candidate Joe Sestak on Sept. 20 in Philadelphia, the Democrat's campaign confirmed Friday. It will be the first event Obama has attended with Sestak, whom the White House opposed in the Democratic primary. Obama welcomed former Republican Sen. Arlen Specter into the fold when he switched parties and supported his renomination, but Sestak defeated Specter handily, positioning himself as a party-bucking outsider. "We're honored that the president would do an event with Joe during his trip to Pennsylvania," spokesman Jonathan Dworkin said.

The latest polls show that President Bush's approval rating has dropped below 50 percent. Uh-oh, time for another international crisis. Don't put those Desert Storm uniforms away yet, and keep those yellow ribbons flying! SOMEBODY DID IT, JOE TAINTED The district attorney's office has absolved Joe Vignola of criminal wrongdoing involving phony signatures on his nominating petitions for City Council in the 1st District. That doesn't mean his campaign isn't tainted.