Based on Gallup data, President Barack Obama has seen a vastly improved standing among the majority of the American people during the last year. Finally, once might add, he’s getting the praise he deserves.
The Washington Post wrote an article over the weekend with the humorous headline “Don’t look now, but Barack Obama is suddenly popular” and reported:
“In Gallup’s most recent weekly average, Obama is at 51-45 — the exact opposite of where he was on Jan. 1 and a 12-point swing since then. He’s been at 50 percent or higher in every week since March 1, save one.”
Having more than half of the country disapproving of the job that President Obama was doing would also bode poorly for the Democrats in general. An unpopular Obama would correlate with a less popular whoever-was-about-to-win-the-Democratic-nomination.
But Obama’s approval have been climbing steadily for a few months, particularly among independents:
“Democrats have slowly looked at Obama more favorably since the beginning of 2015, but independents have begun to look at Obama much more favorably.”
The statistics even show a substantial switch in approval from Republicans, who are more favorable now than at the beginning of the year.
Other groups that have seen the biggest increases in approval of Obama are Hispanics, millennials and women.
African-Americans has generally supported Obama from the start and because of that, Black voters was one of the groups showing the least change.
MSNBC News warns against dismissing the significance of Obama’s newly found support:
“There’s little doubt the president’s standing will have a real impact on the public’s appetite – or lack thereof – for radical change in 2017 and beyond, and insiders in both parties will be keeping a close eye on Obama’s numbers in the coming months. What’s more, this president will be the first two-term incumbent of the television era to aggressively hit the campaign trail during his last year in office, and the more popularity he enjoys, the greater the effects will be.”
A major reason to the upswing would likely be that Americans aren’t overjoyed with the president’s would-be successors. This is what’s causing some voters to say:
“You know, maybe that Obama guy isn’t so bad after all.”
Featured image by By Fogster – Own work. Permission to use under Creative Commons.
