Salazar polls in the middle of his freshman class

Compared to other freshmen Senators from the class of 2004, U.S. Sen. Ken Salazar's (D-Denver) approval rating by his constituents is solidly mediocre.

According to the latest August 11 survey from the Democratic firm Public Policy Polling, Salazar's approval rating was a slightly net positive 39 percent to 36 percent.

With the usual caveats that comparing polls from different firms (partisan or independent), in different states, at different times and with different biases and question wording is a very unscientific art, let's look at how his 2004 freshmen classmates are doing.

A poll in July by PPP gave his colleague U.S. Sen. Mel Martinez (R-Fla.) an upside-down 24 percent to 40 percent approval rating, although a Survey USA poll in June had the senator with a 47 percent to 41 percent approval.

The only other senator in his class with a lackluster approval rating is U.S. Sen. Richard Burr (R-N.C.) who draws the approval of 27 percent of constituents and disapproval of 26 percent, according to a PPP survey from July.

Other colleagues for which recent polling data is available have considerably more support in their states. According to a June survey by Southern Media & Opinion Research, U.S. Sen. David Vitter (R-La.) has a 55 percent to 38 percent favorable to unfavorable rating. Similarly, U.S. Sen Johnny Isakson (R-Ga.) has a 58 percent to 31 percent approval rating according to a June poll by the Republican firm Strategic Vision.

SurveyUSA polling data shows U.S. Sens. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) and John Thune (R-S.D.) with strong approval ratings, but the results are nearly two years old. A Glengariff Group poll from a year ago showed U.S. Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) with a 73 percent to 17 percent approval rating.