Obama Approval Rating Goes UP: CBS News Poll

Despite a wounded economy and public furor aimed at Wall Street, a new CBS poll finds President Obama's approval rating has actually gone up.

Sixty-four percent of Americans say they favor the job that Obama is doing right now, a modest increase of two points since CBS's poll earlier this month. More notably, ratings for the president's handling of the overall economy jumped five points, from 56 percent to 61 percent.

The news is not all good however. On the AIG bonuses issue specifically, Obama is facing his first instance of relatively high disapproval with 42 percent disapproving (versus 41 percent approving and 17 percent undecided).

More on the poll from CBS:

The poll numbers can be explained in part by the fact that most Americans do not think there was much the Obama administration could have done about the bonuses. Only 12 percent think the administration had a lot of control over the payouts, while more than half say the administration had little or no control.

Even so, 56 percent of Americans say the administration ought to have found some way to stop the bonuses from being paid out. Thirty-four percent said it should not have.

Obama is virtually certain to use Tuesday's prime-time news conference to continue an effort that began over the weekend: cooling the anti-AIG ferocity, now that it threatens to undermine his efforts to bail out the nation's deeply troubled financial sector.

Obama's tone changed dramatically after the House voted last week for targeted taxes to take back most of the $165 million in bonuses paid to AIG executives. Many lawmakers felt Obama had encouraged their step, because he called the bonuses reckless, outrageous and unjustified.


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/03/24/obama-approval-rating-goe_n_178453.html

Yea, he is doing alright considering what he is up against. The nay sayers dislike him for other reasons besides his performance so I am not sure if they count...lol J/K

Gall-Up Polls:

PRINCETON, NJ -- President Barack Obama remains highly popular among the U.S. public at the end of his first month in office. However, the 63% of Americans currently approving of his job performance is down slightly from his initial 68% rating in January. The percentage disapproving has doubled, from 12% to 24%.

Increased public disapproval of Obama over the past month is mainly offset by a decrease in the percentage of Americans saying they have no opinion of his job performance. The latest figures are based on Gallup Poll Daily tracking from Feb. 19-21.

http://www.gallup.com/poll/116026/Assessing-Obama-Job-Approval-One-Month-Mark.aspx

Both Polls were before his Press Conference yesterday.

It seems like a lot of people I know(repulicans) don't like him because he isn't fixing things fast enough, but he's only been in office about 70 days. We can't expect him to fix 8 years of damage in 70 days. Our economy problems will probably take a few decades to completely iron out. As far as I know, we won't see how what he's doing is actually helping until many years from now,

I agree. I thought that it would take years to fix even before the election.

there are people in my town wanting him impeached by the end of '09. FOR WHAT, I HAVE NO CLUE. In my town, I'm considered retarded for being a liberal. But, a few of my "retarded" friends and I are going to protest THEIR protest Saturday as they stand on the street corner, shouting slanders at cars as they drive by.

That sounds so very different from my area. lol Most of the people I know voted for Obama. I saw him speak in St. Louis. There were over 700,000 people there.

these polls mean nothing.

I agree.
The Giddyup Pole shows him and all of DC sliding to heII on a greased pole.

What else do we have to go by?

I go by the stock market. it is non partisan and represents the American economy's impressions of how he is doing

most polls are created trying to prove something in the first place so they are suspect with me

unless all of the voters in america are polled....polls aren't accurate

I go by the stock market and the polls.

Polls are nice to get a feel for what's going on to me.

if you think...most of the country is happy with this guy...then...you're livin' in a dreamworld...my favorite is when he says " I inherited the deficit / debt "...if my memory is correct...this guy was right their in the Senate...voting for all this spending...who the hell is he crappin' !!...and God forbid the press would call him out on it...also...if you check out Zogby and Rassmussen...his poll numbers are in a dive...nobody...voted for the confiscation of private property...redistribution of wealth...government run healthcare...government takeover of private business...from G. Washington to GW Bush...this guy has already surpassed...their accumulative debt...in just 65 days...what we have here...is " Stateism "...modeled after western Europe...it's actually kind of scary whats going on...

Everybody that I know offline is happy with Obama.

Stocks and the Dow went up.

His approval ratings in the polls are 61-63%.

Maybe it's you that's living in the dreamworld.

No prz in history stomped on the constitution or our civil liberties more than GWB...Funny thing is he start all this bailout crap!!!!! Did he "EVER" stand before the American people and give the slightest clue we were heading into a financial meltdown until he stood before us and said we need 800 billion????? At Least with Obama whether hes right or wrong he is saying whats going on...

No prez in history stomped on the constitution or our civil liberties more than GWB...Funny thing is he start all this bailout crap!!!!! Did he "EVER" stand before the American people and give the slightest clue we were heading into a financial meltdown until he stood before us and said we need 800 billion????? At Least with Obama whether hes right or wrong he is saying whats going on...

except maybe Andy Jackson or FDR or Nixon

EVERY President pushes the limits of Constitutional power. It's the nature of the job. Some are more succesful than others

no he's not...he's reading it off a teleprompter...