Obama’s Approval Ratings Climb

Public attitudes are improving toward President Barack Obama, according to a new poll cited by the National Journal. The Quinnipiac survey conducted Jan. 4-11 finds that 48 percent of Americans approve of the president, his best Quinnipiac showing since October 2009 and the latest sign after similar Gallup poll findings of an uptick in his ratings since the Democrats’ midterm rout.

“Given the pasting his party took at the polls in November, the president and his supporters can take some heart that things aren’t all that bad politically for Obama’s re-election,” said Peter A. Brown of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute.

The apparent turnaround might be a result of the bipartisan bills passed in the lame-duck session of Congress, and could be “the beginning of a change in public opinion about the president or just a blip,” Brown said.

Obama's base of black and Hispanic Democratic voters remains his strength. Fewer than half of the independents who voted for him two years ago approve of him now. The impact of his speech at the memorial service for shooting victims in Tucson Wednesday will have to wait for the next round of polling.