2012 Presidential Election, 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.

The recent shifts in the polls may be less about Mitt Romney than they are about President Obama. We have been documenting for a few days how Obama has consistently risen in polls of swing states — in many of them by several points — to the point where Romney trails basically everywhere that matters.

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.

Barack Obama's approval ratings are down, Republican challengers are beating him in polls and the U.S. economy is in a slump, yet the Democratic president's re-election campaign headquarters is buzzing.

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.

Economic anxiety is driving President Obama's approval rating to nearly its lowest level yet, a new Washington Post/ABC News poll shows, but he still edges out any possible GOP opponent for 2012.