Obama Sees Uptick in Economic Approval Rating
Most Americans still give the president low marks on the issue, but he appears to be making progress in the eyes of some.
| Posted Thursday, Feb. 9, 2012, at 10:25 AM ET
Photo by Chris Kleponis-Pool/Getty Images.
A new poll out Thursday suggests that President Obama is starting to win back some Americans on the issue of how he and his administration are handling the economy.
The key word there is "some."
According to the Gallup survey, 38 percent of Americans give the president good marks on the topic. That may sound like a low number -- and it certainly is when compared to the 59 percent of Americans who do not approve of his economic chops -- but it's a double-digit jump from this past summer, when the president's economic approval rating was sitting at 26 percent.* At that time, a whopping 71 percent of Americans disapproved.
The jump in Obama's economic approval rating more or less returns his rating to where it began 2011, and corresponds with a slight climb in overall economic confidence.
Even with the uptick, Obama's rating on the economy remains one of the issues where he fares the poorest among Americans. Of the 11 issues the Gallup pollsters ask about on a regular basis, only his handling of the federal budget deficit got lower marks, with 32 percent approving.
His highest ratings, meanwhile, were for the environment, national defense, Afghanistan and general foreign affairs.
*Correction: An earlier version of this post misstated the size of Obama's uptick in his economic approval rating from this past summer. His favorability rating has climbed 12 points, from 26 percent then to 38 percent now.
