Forty-three percent (43%) of likely voters say President Obama is doing a good or excellent job handling national security issues, according to the latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey.

That’s up one point over the past week but down seven points from just after he took office in late January.

Thirty-six percent (36%) give the president a poor rating on his handling of national security issues, an 11-point increase from just after his inauguration.

Voters also remain closely divided on their opinions of Obama when it comes to economic issues. While 40% say he is doing a good or excellent job handling those issues, 40% say he is doing a poor job. The results are only slightly more positive than those found two weeks ago.

The week of Obama’s inauguration, 52% gave him positive ratings on the economy while only 25% marked him poor.

(Want a free daily e-mail update? If it's in the news, it's in our polls). Rasmussen Reports updates are also available on Twitter or Facebook.

While 49% of men give the president positive marks on national security, only 38% of women do the same.

Sixty-eight percent (68%) of Democrats say the president is doing a good or excellent job handling national security issues, but that’s down from a high of 85% in early February. Most Republicans (57%) say the president is doing a poor job, up eight points from February.

The president has been meeting this week with his top advisers to consider a request for more troops from the top military commander in Afghanistan, Gen. Stanley McChrystal. A recent Rasmussen Reports video report shows that 55% of voters expect the situation in Afghanistan to get worse in the coming months.

Americans are narrowly divided over whether the United States should send more troops to fight the war in Afghanistan: 37% say yes to sending more troops, while 40% say no. Twenty-three percent (23%) are not sure.

The plurality of voters (32%) sees Iran as the biggest threat to U.S. national security.

Forty-three percent (43%) of voters believe the United States and its allies are winning the War on Terror, down from 55% the week Obama took office.

The president was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize today for his "his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples." Despite the president’s efforts to reach out to the global Islamic community, recent polling finds that 35% of voters expect U.S. relations with the Muslim world to get worse in the next year, a seven-point jump from a month ago. Only 19% expect the relationship to improve.

Consumer confidence as measured in the Rasmussen Consumer Index has fallen for six straight days. Just before last week’s report on unemployment, 32% said the economy was getting better. Now, just 26% hold that view while 49% say the economy is getting worse. The increase in pessimism is even more notable among investors.

Sixty-two percent (62%) oppose a second stimulus package, and 67% oppose a national sales tax.

Fifty-five percent (55%) of voters still say the nation’s current economic problems are due to the recession which began under President George W. Bush. Thirty-seven percent (37%) say the current economic problems are caused by the policies Obama has put in place since taking office.

Just 30% of voters now think the president is governing in a bipartisan fashion, down 12 points from late January and the lowest such finding of his presidency.

Please sign up for the Rasmussen Reports daily e-mail update (it’s free) or follow us on Twitter or Facebook. Let us keep you up to date with the latest public opinion news.

See survey questions and toplines. Crosstabs and are available to Premium Members.