Approval Rating, Poll | featured news

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 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.

President Obama's approval rating has sunk below 40% in another poll... On the other hand: Republicans don't poll any better.

President Obama's summer woes have dragged his approval rating to an all-time low, sinking below 40% for the first time in Gallup's daily tracking poll.

Economic anxiety is driving President Obama's approval rating to nearly its lowest level yet, a new Washington Post/ABC News poll shows, but he still edges out any possible GOP opponent for 2012.