St. Cloud State University conducts an annual political poll, asking people how they feel about various polticians and goverment officials, and poltical parties.

The most recent poll, reported by MinnPost, shows approval ratings are declining for Democratic leaders, but that the Republican Party doesn’t seem to be gaining, either.

The poll, taken between Oct. 20 and 27, asked 626 respondents how they would rate the overall performance of Barack Obama, Mark Dayton, Amy Klobuchar and Al Franken. Obama’s approval rating was 38 percent positive. Franken’s was 39 percent. Dayton was 44 percent. Only Klobuchar had an approval rating above 50 percent, at 57 percent. Dayton and Obama’s approval ratings had dropped from 53 percent and 47 percent last year.

Respondents were also asked to rate their feelings on a scale of 0 to 100. Klobuchar had a favorable rating of 66, Franken was 51, Dayton 49, Obama 46, and Michele Bachmann 31.

Asked to rate their feelings about the parties, Democrats got a 47, Republicans a 40, Libertarians a 37, and the Tea Party a 31.

Sounds like a lot of disaffection going on out there. The challenge is there for all politicians to find out what makes the voters happy, and figure out how to get it done.