2012 Presidential Election, Barack Obama Approval Rating | featured news

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.

President Obama's job approval rating and level of voter support have reached the critical 50% point, according to Gallup, but there is still plenty of opportunity for the White House race to fluctuate. Gallup says Obama's job approval rating stands at 51%. At the same time, the president leads Mitt Romney 50%-44% among registered voters in the daily tracking poll -- similar to where the race stood after the Democratic convention this month.

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.

People like Christine Alonzo are keeping President Barack Obama afloat and giving his political team hope that he can win re-election despite high unemployment and sour attitudes about his policies and the country's future.

Twelve states constitute the likely battlegrounds for the 2012 election, based on Gallup’s state-by-state ratings of President Obama’s approval level.