Ahead of his State of the Union address where he is expected to call for $320 billion in new taxes, President Barack Obama is enjoying his highest approval rating since the spring of 2013.
His approval rating now sits at 50 percent in the latest Washington Post- ABC News poll, up nine points from December and up seven points from just before the midterm election that saw Democrats brutally lose ground.
The Washington Post attributes this to a sense among the general public that the economy is improving, primarily because lower gas prices have put an extra $7.50 into the average person’s wallet compared to last year.
According to the poll, a majority of Americans still believe the economy is not in a good place, but it’s a smaller majority than believed that around the election.
About 6 in 10 Americans describe the economy as “not so good” or “poor.” Whereas, 41 percent describe the economy positively. Back in October, just 27 percent felt positively about it.
The last time this trend was evident was also around the time Obama enjoyed an above-50 percent approval rating, back in the spring of 2013.
But while 50 percent marks an improvement for the president, it and the other survey responses show just how divided the country is as Obama prepares to face a Republican-led Congress for the first time.
About 40 percent of survey respondents said they trusted Obama over Republicans to handle the nation’s biggest problems compared to 36 percent who felt the reverse. But this is a drastic fall for the president since his 2012 reelection. At that time, the public said they trusted Obama over Republicans by 15 points, WaPo reported.
Mostly, Americans are worried about yet another unproductive Congress and another two years of the blame game in Washington.
Nine in 10 Americans said government dysfunction is a problem, with 2 in 3 calling it a major problem on the survey. Both the Republican-led Congress and Obama shared responsibility equally for this.
No one seems to have much hope that things will improve either. One-third of Americans say they believe the new Congress will do a better job. One-fifth say it will be worse, and everyone else believes things will stay about the same.
