Fully six in ten Americans now approve of President Obama’s job performance, according to an AP poll released Wednesday morning, the highest level recorded in their surveys in exactly two years.
In addition, the poll showed the president’s reelection prospects getting a boost too, as it found that more Americans now think Obama deserves to be reelected than the percentage who said the same two months ago.
In the poll, 60% of respondents said they approved of Obama’s job performance, compared to 39% who disapproved. That’s the best rating Obama has received since May 2009 when, riding high after his inauguration, 64% of Americans approved of his job performance.
The poll is the latest in a flurry of surveys conducted since the death of Osama bin Laden that have shown the president getting a boost to his approval rating. Prior to the news of bin Laden’s death, the TPM Poll Average showed Obama’s approval rating slightly underwater. But now, the average finds him nearly cracking the 50% threshold, as it shows that 49.4% of Americans approve of his job performance, compared to 45.0% who disapprove.
At the same time, the AP poll also found that 53% of Americans now think Obama deserves to be reelected next year, while 43% say otherwise. That’s a marked improvement from March when 50% said he deserved reelection, but nearly as many, 47%, said he did not. And it’s a huge turnaround from last November, when a 54% majority said the president did not deserve to be reelected, versus 39% who said he did.
The election is still a year and a half away, and much can change in that time. But at least for now, polls are showing the president’s popularity surging in the wake of his announcement that bin Laden had been killed.
The AP poll was conducted May 5-9 among 1,001 adults nationwide. It has a margin of error of 4.2%.
Disqus Conversations
Click here to read the Disqus Commenting FAQ.