President Barack Obama still has support from the majority of American people despite growing pessimism about the direction of the country.

From Yahoo.com News

Obama’s approval rating stands at 54 percent, roughly the same as in October but very different from the enthusiastic 74 percent in January just before he took office. And some 56 percent of people say the country is heading in the wrong direction, an uptick from 51 percent last month and 49 percent in Obama’s first month as president.

The economy is by far the most important issue on Americans’ minds. Unemployment hit 10.2 percent last month even though the administration has promoted glimmers of improvement and many economists say the recession is over.

Those jobless figures help explain why as many people said the economy got worse in the past month as said it got better — and it’s not many people who thought it got better, just 22 percent. Most say the economy stayed the same, and just 46 percent approve of how Obama is handling the economy, compared with 50 percent last month.

“He did good on getting Wall Street up and running. But I’m not going,” said independent Jay Huffaker, 33, of Knoxville, Tenn., a construction worker who has been unemployed for a year and a half. The country is in terrible shape, he said, adding, “It seems like it’s getting worse and worse and worse and worse.”

The nation also has grown more lukewarm on Obama and the wars as he tries to wind down the one in Iraq and considers ramping up the one in Afghanistan.

Compared with October, 45 percent of people now disapprove of Obama’s handling of Iraq, up from 37 percent; while 48 percent now disapprove of his handling of Afghanistan, up from 41 percent. A majority of Americans oppose both wars. And more than half — 54 percent — now oppose sending more troops to Afghanistan, an increase from 50 percent last month.

“We either need to do something to win the wars, or just come home,” said Republican Heather Johannessen, a stay-at-home mom in the suburbs of Minnesota’s Twin Cities, who thinks the U.S. is in a holding pattern in both Iraq and Afghanistan.

President has confidence of 2 out of 3 Americans. Two-thirds of the nation supports the leadership of President Barack Obama, if a CNN poll is correct. Released on Friday, the survey’s results also show that six out of 10 people support the economic stimulus proposal Obama signed into law this week. The first Black president’s approval rating of 67 percent is down 9 points from the last CNN survey weeks ago. “Since nearly all of the decline came from among Republicans, this doesn’t indicate that the honeymoon is already over,” says CNN spokesman Keating Holland. “Among Democrats, Obama’s approval went from 96 percent to 92 percent; among Republicans, it dropped from 50 percent in early February to 31 percent now.”

Kym Worthy keeps pressure on Kilpatrick. Don’t send out the Dallas welcome wagon for Kwame Kilpatrick just yet: The former Detroit mayor who just got out of jail has a tenacious opponent in Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy. Worthy, who helped put Kilpatrick behind bars for corruption last year, asked a judge not to let Kilpatrick leave Michigan for job training, as Kilpatrick requests. They’ll appear in court next week when a court decides if the ex-mayor can go on with his plan to re-locate to Dallas and take a six-figure sales gig there. Worthy argues that Kilpatrick deceived the court when he said traveling to Texas was necessary for his job interview. She also says that the $3,000 monthly rent Kilpatrick reportedly plans to pay for his new home should go toward the $1 million restitution he agreed to give the Detroit finance department.

 Three in four Americans believe that President-elect Barack Obama is making strong, thoughtful decisions as he prepares to take over as the nation’s 44th commander in chief, a new poll shows. When George W. Bush took the helm of power in 2001, six in 10 Americans saw him as a strong and decisive leader. Obama’s strongest suit, according to the CNN/Opinion Research Corp. survey, is his ability to inspire and his apparent honesty. “That’s the best number an incoming president has gotten on that dimension since Ronald Reagan took office in 1981,” CNN Polling Director Keating Holland said. Read more here.

Voters are most worried about long lines. More than one in three BET.com users say that they worried about long lines on Election Day, while one in four fear they will discover that they are not registered.  Get all the results from our election poll here.

Time is ticking away for candidates. With only 48 hours remaining in the race for the White House, the battleground state of Ohio has seen both presidential candidates come to state their case and deliver their argument on why undecided voters should do more than “lean” their way: They want their vote. Get more at Pamela on Politics.

Polls show Obama with a fat lead. As the presidential candidates prepare to square off in the third and final debate tonight, a new CBS poll shows Sen. Barack Obama with his strongest lead yet in the presidential race with a 14-point lead over his Republican rival Sen. John McCain. The respondents said McCain has spent too much time attacking Obama and not enough explaining what he would do as president. The poll also found that voters trust Obama more than McCain to fix the economy. In a separate survey three weeks before Election Day, Obama leads McCain, 50 percent to 41 percent, among likely voters, a Los Angeles Times/Bloomberg poll suggests. In September, Obama had a 49 percent to 45 percent lead. In the weeks between the two polls, the nation’s economy teetered toward collapse, and the poll demonstrated the shattering effect of that upheaval on voters. The latest New York Times/CBS News poll indicated Obama ahead 53 percent to 39 percent and suggested the McCain campaign’s personal attacks on Obama have backfired. Even at that, some analysts question whether the large lead is enough to cancel out the so-called Bradley effect, a reference to when Whites voted opposite of how they told pollsters they would during Tom Bradley’s 1982 California governor’s bid.  But others say polling is much more sophisticated now, and with the economic issues at stake people are being more honest.

Pamela On Politics: McCain enjoys a bounce from Republican Convention. For the first time since Sen. Barack Obama captured the Democratic nomination, his Republican challenger, Sen. John McCain, is leading in a national Gallup Poll – 48 percent to 45 percent. Get more at Pamela On Politics.

Deceased mom of rap star is object of foreclosure effort.

Northern Trust Bank is asking for $606,983.43 cents to prevent the foreclosure of rapper Kanye West’s late mother’s L.A. home. Donda West died last year of complications from cosmetic surgery. Her estate matters have been handled by the rapper, but he has not commented on the alleged bank debt. A former Chicago professor, Donda West also doubled as Kanye’s business associate.

King mag lists worst model-turned-actress gigs.

Oscar win aside, Halle Berry has a worst performance of all time, according to King magazine. Berry is named as the top offender on the publication’s list of most dreadful model-turned-actress film showings for her role in Gothika. Following Berry were Garcelle Beauvais for her part in Wild, Wild West and Tyra Banks for Coyote Ugly. Cameron Diaz (Any Given Sunday) and Cindy Crawford (Fair Game) also made the unfortunate top five.

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Singer’s appearance blocked by show’s postponement. It may be a while before India.Arie fans see the singer on stage after a financial backer has reportedly pulled out of the production “For Colored Girls Who Considered Suicide When the Rainbow Is Enuf.” Arie was slated to act in the popular Ntozake Shange “choreopoem.” But the production is on hold indefinitely.