Approval Rating | featured news

French President Francois Hollande's approval rating jumped this month from a record low, improving for the first time since he took office after sending troops to Mali to battle Islamist rebels.

Negotiations are expected to continue Thursday on the "fiscal cliff" with Republicans at a growing public opinion disadvantage and approval ratings for President Barack Obama rising to levels not seen since the killing of Osama bin Laden.

Public impressions of Hillary Rodham Clinton are at an all-time high, with a large majority of Americans giving her positive reviews as secretary of state and most wanting her to be a presidential candidate in 2016, a Washington Post-ABC News poll shows.

Like most White House occupants, President Obama saw his approval rating rise after an election. Obama's bounce, however, turned out to be lower than the average of his predecessors. The New York Times, citing data from the Gallup Poll, noted that Obama's net job approval rating rose by 2 percentage points after his Nov. 6 election win over Mitt Romney.

The recent shifts in the polls may be less about Mitt Romney than they are about President Obama. We have been documenting for a few days how Obama has consistently risen in polls of swing states — in many of them by several points — to the point where Romney trails basically everywhere that matters.

President Obama oftens talk about the "mess" he inherited from predecessor George W. Bush, and there's a good reason for that.

President Obama is still reaping the dividends from this month's fight with the House GOP on extending the payroll tax. Obama's approval ratings are higher than his disapproval ratings for the first time since July, according to the latest Gallup Poll. About 47% of Americans approve of the way he is doing his job, while 45% disapprove of his performance. The three-day tracking poll was conducted Dec. 21-23.

Congress has reached a new low in job-approval ratings, with only 11% of adults giving lawmakers good marks in the latest Gallup Poll.

President Obama appears to be moving up politically. A new Quinnipiac Poll gives Obama an approval rating of 47% -- not great, to be sure, but better than the 41% he rang up in the same poll last month.

American Research Group10/17-20/11; 1,100 adults, 3% margin of errorMode: Live telephone interviews...