The survey by the Wisconsin Policy Research Institute mirrors results six months ago. Fifty-six percent of those surveyed strongly or somewhat disapproved of Walker, while 42 percent somewhat or strongly approved.

The poll also found Wisconsin residents had grown less pessimistic about the economy in the last six months.

“There is a rising sense of optimism, and tempers that were flaring in March are subsiding a bit,” said University of Chicago Professor Will Howell, who directed the poll, in a statement. ”Interestingly, this is has not redounded to the benefit of the governor.”

Howell said Walker could benefit if the recall effort came to be about the economy or recall elections rather than his performance in office.

And in the battleground state of Wisconsin, the poll found high support for Pres. Barack Obama, 54-42, with Obama beating all Republican challengers by at least 10 percent.

Marriage rights for same-sex couples have been legal since 2009 after the Iowa Supreme Court ruled the state’s ban on same-sex marriage was unconstitutional.

According to the poll, 50 percent of Iowans would vote for a ban on same-sex marriage while 43 percent would vote against it. Though voters seem to reject same-sex marriage, 67 percent support equal rights for same-sex couples either through marriage (37 percent) or civil unions (30 percent). Only 29 percent said same-sex couples should have no legal recognition.

The poll’s internals show it is Iowa’s older generation that skews the poll in favor of an anti-gay marriage amendment. Sixty-two percent of seniors support a ban, while only 35 percent under 30 would vote in favor.

Attempts by Republicans to get a marriage amendment on the ballot have been stymied by Democrats who hold a one-vote majority in the state Senate, though a special election in District 18 could tip the Senate in favor of the Republicans by one seat. That election, between Democrat Liz Mathis and Republican Cindy Golding, will be on Nov. 8.

According to the poll, only 27 percent of voters supported repealing marriage rights for same-sex couples. Sixty-two percent opposed repealing the law.

The numbers are almost identical to a similar survey in February.

The poll also found that 44 percent say they would be less likely to vote for a lawmaker who voted to repeal same-sex marriage. Only 14 percent said they were less likely to support a candidate who voted against repealing same-sex marriage.

And only 8 percent of voters thought legalizing same-sex marriage had a major impact on them personally. The poll did not ask whether the voters thought it was a positive or negative impact.

Just 9 percent of Republicans and 11 percent of conservatives said they thought it had a major effect on the state.

Republicans are attempting to repeal the marriage law in New Hampshire and were able to move it through at least one committee this year. They will revisit the issue again in January. The GOP has veto-proof majorities in the state Legislature.

“Strong opponents of repealing same-sex marriage continue outnumber strong proponents by more than 2 to 1,” said Andrew Smith, Director of the UNH Survey Center which conducted the poll. “The New Hampshire public is not showing any strong desire to repeal this law.”

The measure will be on the ballot in May. The poll also found a majority of residents in the state support equal rights for same-sex couples.

According to the poll, 56 percent of North Carolinians oppose the constitutional amendment with 39 percent supporting it. Those numbers are virtually unchanged from an identical survey conducted in February, but show an increase in opposition from 2009 when only 50 percent opposed the amendment.

The results also mirror a poll done by Public Policy Polling in early September that showed 55 percent opposed the amendment and 30 percent supported it.

Only a third of respondents in the Elon poll opposed legal recognition of same-sex couples.

Twenty-nine percent favored civil unions or domestic partnerships — which the amendment could ban — and 33 percent supported full marriage rights for same-sex couples.

All told, 61 percent supported equal rights for same-sex couples as long as it’s not called marriage.

“The ballot referendum that would ban same sex marriage will be the issue to watch this year,” Mileah Kromer, assistant director of the Elon University Poll, said in a statement on Friday. “With North Carolinians so divided on this issue, expect a tough battle over the next few months as both sides attempt to sway public opinion in their favor”

“This is the beginning of the track to the presidency. She has to win Iowa then move on from there,” Nahigian narrates over the low-tech video. “Normally that happens and it triggers a lot of infusion of money, of support and a momentum wave of media that will take you all the way through. By winning Iowa she will be on the path to victory.”

Nahigian said the campaign expects to “compete” in New Hampshire, but not “dominate” like it plans to in Iowa.

“If she wins in Iowa, does well in NH, wins SC, she is basically on a very good path to win the nomination,” Nahigian said. “We are on the exact path that we designed and the exact path to victory.”

Bachmann has slipped to the back of the Republican pack in national polls. Some venues have also raised questions, citing the quality of another recent video, about her ability to raise funds to compete with big spenders like Mitt Romney and Rick Perry.

Massachusetts topped the list of states with the lowest number of uninsured at 5.3 percent. In 2006, the state instituted a mandate requiring residents to carry health insurance. Vermont has the second lowest uninsured rate at 9.2 percent. Vermont recently enacted the nation’s first single-payer health care system.

Rounding out the top 10 were Connecticut, Hawaii, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Maryland, New Jersey and Delaware.

Despite the strong showing in the state-based rankings, Minnesota’s rate of uninsured has climbed over the last few years from 8.7 percent in 2009.

Minnesota also placed third in 2010 and 2009, according to Gallup. The Midwest and Northeast have historically had low uninsured rates.

The bottom ten were all southern states, except for California and Alaska. Texas had the highest percent of uninsured with 27.4 percent followed by Mississippi, Alaska, Florida, Oklahoma, California, Louisiana, Arkansas, North Carolina and Georgia. Texas has consistently led the nation in having the highest percentage of its population without health insurance in the Gallup survey.

Until Texas Gov. Rick Perry’s entrance, Bachmann was viewed as the main threat to frontrunner Mitt Romney. Because of her dramatic performance in earlier debates, this debate was viewed as her main hope to recapture her former inertia after polls showed her performance slipping. But she was a small presence in the debate, and didn’t receive a question from moderators until after they’d asked a question of former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman, who has dawdled at about one percent in the polls.

While Romney and Perry earned much of the media’s gaze with some low-level sniping, Bachmann focused her attacks on Pres. Barack Obama, primarily on his health care reform efforts, although her comments didn’t much distinguish her in a debate where all her opponents shared similar stances.

“As I go across the country and speak to small business people, men and woman, Obamacare is leading them to not create jobs. We know that from the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office, but I know it firsthand from speaking to people,” she said. “Obamacare is clearly leading to job-killing regulations not job-creating regulations.”

The media consensus is that Bachmann missed an opportunity to stand out in this debate. The Los Angeles Times titled a post-debate story, “As Perry and Romney spar, Bachmann fades.” Time magazine’s Joe Klein asserts that it’s now a two-way race, lumping Bachmann into his column in a category for third-tier candidates called “The Others.”

In a further sign of bad news for Bachmann’s campaign, Reuters broke news Thursday that the high-level staff changes in Bachmann’s campaign were due to personnel issues and disagreements about the day-to-day running of her campaign.

As ABC News notes, Bachmann’s campaign, which formerly sent out flurries of emails and statements, sent out only one press release about the debate (and an additional release about Bachmann’s energy stances): ”Bachmann closed out the debate by affirming she is the strong leader the country needs during these uncertain times – not more speeches and Washington politics.”

A Washington Post-ABC News poll conducted between Aug. 29 and Sept. 1 found Bachmann with only six percent of the support among both Republican-leaning voters and the general public. In the month and a half since previous poll was conducted, Bachmann lost about half her supporters. She currently trails Texas Gov. Rick Perry, former Massachussets Gov. Mitt Romney, former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin and U.S. Rep. Ron Paul of Texas.

The poll had a margin of error of 3.5 percent.

The official entrance of Rick Perry to the race could be to blame for Bachmann’s dwindling support—Perry leads the pack with the support of 29 percent of Republican-leaning voters.

But Bachmann appears to have larger problems too. Only four percent of those surveyed thought she would be the best candidate to defeat President Barack Obama. Only five percent thought she’d be the best candidate to deal with the economy. And Bachmann’s campaign has recently been wracked by a series of resignations, leading some to speculate that her campaign hit its high point by winning the Iowa Straw Poll.

In the poll, 61 percent said that they want same-sex marriage in the state to remain illegal. However, 55 percent said they oppose an amendment that would define marriage in the state as one man and one woman and ban any legal equivalents to marriage. Only 30 percent said they would support such an amendment.

The discrepancy comes from North Carolinians’ support for some rights for same-sex couples. Fifty-four percent support either same-sex marriage (25 percent) or civil unions (29 percent), and 43 percent oppose any relationship rights for same-sex couples.

“It’s pretty simple: North Carolinians don’t support gay marriage but they also don’t think this constitutional amendment is necessary,” said Dean Debnam, President of Public Policy Polling, in a statement. “And they also think this particular proposal goes too far by targeting civil unions, which many voters in the state support.”

POS, a Republican polling firm, was hired by religious right outfit Alliance Defense Fund to conduct the poll. The poll’s numbers stand in stark contrast to a series of polls that show majority support for same-sex marriage among the American electorate, and come on the eve of a contentious push in New York to legalize gay marriage.

The Alliance Defense Fund — founded in part by Focus on the Family, Campus Crusade for Christ and the American Family Association, which has been dubbed a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center — paid for the poll. The ADF opposes any rights for same-sex couples including marriage, civil unions and domestic partner benefits.

The poll found that 63 percent of Americans agreed with the statement, “I believe marriage should be defined ONLY as a union between one man and one woman,” with 53 percent strongly agreeing with the statement. Thirty-five percent disagreed.

The poll’s sponsors did not release methodology or crosstabs, but did release basic information (PDF).

Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council, which is also listed as a hate group by the SPLC, praised the poll.

“This survey is a reflection of the voters in 31 states who have voted overwhelmingly to preserve marriage at the ballot box – with Minnesota, North Carolina and Indiana next in line with referendums,” he said. “As New York legislators debate a marriage redefinition bill, they should consider the impact on families, children and religious liberty. In 2006, the New York Court of Appeals reasonably concluded that the legislature has a legitimate interest in promoting responsible procreation and can ‘rationally’ believe that children need both a mother and a father.”

The poll contrasts with several mainstream polls released in recent months that found majority support for same-sex marriage. A Gallup poll in early May found that 53 percent of Americans support gay marriage. A CNN poll asked the same question in April and found 51 percent in support of gay marriage. The Washington Post released a poll in March showing 53 percent of Americans support marriage for same-sex couples.