Obama's popularity highest in 4 years
2013-01-30 22:24
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US celebrates President Barack Obama's re-election.
Washington - US President Barack Obama's popularity has
hit 60%, the highest level since he first took office four years ago, according
to a poll released on Wednesday.
The survey by ABC television and The Washington Post was
made public just a little more than a week after the president's formal
swearing-in was witnessed by an estimated one million people in Washington and
millions more across the nation.
The pollsters credited public approval of the president's
inauguration address for his soaring poll numbers.
In that address, Obama embraced a liberal agenda that
vowed action during his second term on gun reform, gay rights and the
environment, among other issues.
But while the poll showed he has broad public support, it
also found that his popularity is slightly less than that enjoyed by two other
re-elected presidents - Bill Clinton and Ronald Reagan - at the start of their
second terms.
Obama's favourability rating at the start of this second
term is higher, however, than that of his predecessor George W Bush at the same
point during his tenure.
The 60% popularity represents a 10-point increase since
last summer, during the heat of the contentious presidential race against
Republican challenger Mitt Romney.
Obama has a way to go until he matches his all-time
highest popularity numbers – 79% - achieved just days before he took office in
January 2009, the pollsters said.
The telephone survey of 1 022 adults was taken between 23
to 27 January and had a 3.5% margin of error.
