Approval Rating, Mitt Romney | 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.