The 2010 mid-term elections are now less than a year away, and this past week highlighted some of the story lines already in play - the ideological divide in the Republican Party, the ongoing national health care debate, Guantanamo and rising unemployment.

Sarah Palin – love her or hate her – is back on the road for the first time since Election 2008, promoting her book, “Going Rogue,” and showcasing the troublesome divide in the national Republican Party.

Even though she recently came in third to Mike Huckabee and Mitt Romney as their choice for the GOP’s 2012 presidential nomination, 59% of Republican voters say the former Alaska governor shares the values of most of the party’s voters throughout the nation. By contrast, 73% of Republicans say their party’s representatives in Congress have lost touch with GOP voters nationwide over the past several years.

Perhaps the most startling evidence of this is the new finding that Senator John McCain, last year’s Republican presidential nominee, is now virtually tied with conservative ex-congressman J.D. Hayworth in an early look at the 2010 GOP Senate Primary in Arizona. McCain, long considered a shoo-in, appears to be facing a less certain future in his own party than in the general election since no major Democrat has emerged to challenge him.

Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty, another White House hopeful, also may need to focus a little more attention at home. Forty-six percent (46%) of Minnesota voters say they would not vote for Pawlenty if he wins the Republican presidential nomination in 2012.

But Republican candidates now maintain a six-point advantage over Democrats in the latest edition of the Generic Congressional Ballot. Forty-four percent (44%) would vote for their district’s Republican congressional candidate while 38% would opt for his or her Democratic opponent.

It will be interesting to see how those numbers are impacted by Democratic Leader Harry Reid’s effort to force the health care reform bill through the Senate beginning this weekend. Forty-seven percent (47%) of voters now favor the health care plan proposed by President Obama and congressional Democrats, while 49% are opposed. With the exception of bounces following nationally televised presidential appeals, that’s the highest level of support measured for the legislative effort all year.

Forty-five percent (45%) of Americans say the cost of prescription drugs will go up if the health care plan becomes law. Just 18% think the cost of prescription drugs will go down, while 20% say they will remain the same.

Forty-seven percent (47%) also still believe the private sector rather than the federal government has the best chance of keeping health care costs down and the quality of medical care up. Thirty-three percent (33%) think the federal government would do a better job of reducing costs and maintaining quality of care.

While one of the chief stated goals of the president’s health care plan is to reduce costs, just 18% of Americans say they’ve changed health insurance coverage in the past year to a less expensive option in order to save money.

Angry political debate sparked this past week over Attorney General Eric Holder’s decision to try the confessed mastermind of the 9/11 terrorist attacks and other suspected terrorists in a civilian court in New York City. Fifty-one percent (51%) of voters oppose that decision, part of the plan to close the prison camp for terrorists at the Guantanamo Naval base in Cuba. Fourteen percent (14%) say the terrorist suspects should be given the same legal rights as U.S. citizens, but 76% disagree.

Only 18% of voters feel that the U.S. legal system worries too much about protecting national security. More than twice as many, 39% now believe that the legal system worries too much about protecting individual rights. A couple of years ago, the number who believed the system worried too much about national security was roughly the same as the number who thought it was too worried about protecting individual rights.

While official Washington has seen many twists and turns in the legislative process this year, voter priorities are unchanged. Cutting the federal deficit in half by the end of Obama’s first term in office is still number one for voters and has been ever since the president listed his four top budget priorities in a speech to Congress in February. But voters also have consistently seen deficit cutting as the goal the president is least likely to achieve.

Clearly, voters recognize that that task is made more difficult by the stimulus spending and bailout programs pushed through by the Obama administration and congressional Democrats. Forty-two percent (42%) of Americans say Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner has done a poor job handling the credit crisis and federal bailout programs. Twenty percent (20%) rate Geithner’s performance in these areas as good or excellent.

Yet the nation’s rising unemployment rate is producing more and more calls on the Democratic side for a second economic stimulus. This is explained in part by the finding that Democrats and voters not affiliated with either major political party are more likely to be unemployed than Republicans are.

However, most voters (62%) believe tax cuts are a better way to create jobs and fight unemployment. In fact, 51% say more jobs would be created if the remaining spending planned in the first economic stimulus plan was cancelled right away.

It was another week of very slight change in the Rasmussen Consumer and Investor Indexes. Most consumers and investors continue to rate the U.S. economy as poor.

The economy was high on the agenda this past week as the president made his first trip to Asia, particularly in China. Eighty-four percent (84%) rate the U.S.-China relationship as important. But only 20% think what is good for China’s economy is good for the U.S. economy.

Nearly as important for many Americans is the U.S. relationship with Japan. But despite growing concerns in that country about the continuing U.S. military presence there, just 26% of Americans say the United States should remove all its troops from Japan.

Obama ended the week with his lowest ratings ever in the Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll.

In other polls last week:

-- Fifty percent (50%) of Americans say interest rates on their credit cards have been raised in the past six months, as Congress seeks to limit the ability of banks to raise those rates. But the majority worry that congressional action to limit interest rate hikes may make it harder for some people to get credit cards.

-- Eighty-three percent (83%) of adults say credit cards tempt people to buy things they can’t afford.

-- In the wake of the Fort Hood massacre, 26% of employed adults say they have seriously thought that someone in their workplace was capable of mass violence.

-- Voters have changed their views of the country’s congressional leaders very little, and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi remains the most well-known and least-liked of the group.

-- Sixty-two percent (62%) of voters have a favorable opinion of First Lady Michelle Obama, including 41% who regard her very favorably. This represents her highest favorable ratings in several months.

-- For the second straight week, just 33% of U.S. voters say the country is heading in the right direction. The majority (61%) continue to believe the nation is heading down the wrong track.

-- Voters strongly oppose the restoration of the military draft, but 63% also oppose requiring all Americans to perform one year of public service.

-- State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo is still the most formidable candidate in next year’s gubernatorial race in New York, especially now that former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani is apparently not going to run on the Republican side.

-- There’s been virtually no change over the past two months in the hypothetical Election 2010 Senate match-up in New York State between Democratic incumbent Kirsten Gillibrand and former Governor George Pataki. Including the fact that Pataki still hasn’t announced for the race.

-- State Attorney General Jerry Brown is the only major Democrat still running for governor of California next year, and now he’s tied with Republican hopeful Meg Whitman at 41% each.

-- Little has changed in the2010 U.S. Senate race in California over the past month, as incumbent Democrat Barbara Boxer maintains steady leads over two of her top Republican opponents.

-- The front-runner in Minnesota’s 2010 Republican gubernatorial primary is a candidate who isn’t even in the race yet, while Democrats are evenly divided between two of their most prominent contenders. Former U.S. Senator Norm Coleman is ahead of three other potential GOP challengers with 50% support from likely Republican voters in the state.

-- The Kindle is the iPod of text books. It’s a bit bigger in size and stores a catalog of your favorite books. But just seven percent (7%) of American adults say they have used a Kindle or similar electronic book reader. Eighty-seven percent (87%) have not.

Check for the latest, regularly updated numbers on our home page and keep up with our daily Presidential Tracking Poll. Premium Members get access to more data, a morning briefing from Scott Rasmussen and an advance look at key findings.

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