President Obama has been riding a popularity hot streak of late. Buoyed by a brightening economic outlook, and perhaps by his newfound policy assertiveness, Obama’s poll numbers have steadily climbed from their pre-midterm lows last fall. On Monday, Gallup announced, the resurgent Obama, with a small boost from the State of the Union, reached the 50 percent job approval threshold in Gallup daily tracking for the first time since June 2013.
The Gallup numbers coincide with a Washington Post-ABC News poll on the eve of the State of the Union that showed Obama’s job approval rating at the 50 percent mark. As recently as October, Gallup found only 39 percent of the American people approved of the job Obama was doing. But times have changed.
“It is difficult to determine which groups are most responsible for Obama’s immediate post-speech approval gains, as many of the changes are within the margin of error,” Gallup writes. “However, compared with late December, it is clear that Obama’s approval rating is up more among whites than among nonwhites, as well as up more sharply among younger adults—those aged 18 to 49—than among older adults. Also, his rating is significantly improved among lower-income and lower-middle-income Americans, whereas it is flat or down among higher-income Americans.”
