Americans have become even more convinced over the past week that government leaders in Washington should compromise on their principles and beliefs on tax increases and spending in order to reach an agreement that avoids the "fiscal cliff" on Jan. 1. Now, 70% say leaders should compromise, up from 62% last week...

...[At 48%] Americans continue to give higher approval ratings to the way President Obama is handling the fiscal cliff negotiations than they give to the Democratic [38%] leaders or the Republican leaders [26%] in Congress. However, Obama's approval rating on handling the negotiations is down slightly from last week [52%], while the approval ratings for the other two have remained essentially the same [-- down 1% each.].