While he doesn’t dispute the numbers in this week’s Quinnipiac University poll, U.S. Sen. Chris Dodd said Friday that the best way he can overcome them is to keep doing his job.

The poll of 1,238 Connecticut voters put Dodd in a statistical dead heat with Rob Simmons, a former Republican congressman.

“The polls will ultimately take care of themselves,” Dodd said.

“When people say what are you going to do about it—my only answer is do your job,” Dodd said Friday when asked about the poll results and Republican criticism.

Rocked back on his heels this summer by questions about his role in the Countrywide mortgage scandal, Dodd has been seen as increasingly vulnerable in the 2010 election.

National Republican Senatorial Committee, which works to elect Republican to the U.S. Senate, has clearly targeted Dodd’s seat, according to political insiders.

Dodd who has never been seen as a viable target in the past seemed to be taking it all in stride Friday following a press conference at Trinity College.

Shortly after his campaign for president Dodd’s approval numbers started to slip and continued to dip when Portfolio magazine reported that Dodd was part of Countrywide Financial’s “Friends of Angelo” VIP program. Dodd and his wife have since released their 2003 mortgage documents and an independent study, which they said shows they did not receive any favoritism when they refinanced their Connecticut and Washington DC homes.

The Dodd’s announced in early February that they would be hiring a third-party to refinance their mortgages.

Since releasing the mortgage documents to the media Dodd’s approval ratings have remained low, but seem to be slowly creeping back up.

Dodd, whose approval ratings were in the negative range on Feb. 10, have rebounded slightly. Connecticut voters approve 49 to 44 percent of the job Dodd is doing compared to the 41 to 48 percent approval rating he received on Feb. 10.

The Lieberman Question

Ed Anderson of New Haven asked Dodd if US Sen. Joseph Lieberman, who was re-elected as an independent and recently campaigned for Republican U.S. Sen. John McCain, should be invited to the Connecticut Democrat’s annual April fundraising dinner.

It was reported this week by The Hill that Lieberman is not ruling out running for re-election as a Democratic candidate in 2012.

“If people want to come back home, you open the door,” Dodd said.