Gallup Poll chief puzzled by Obama’s high approval rating

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Washington, July 20: The editor in chief of the Gallup Poll, Frank Newport, has expressed surprise over the high approval rating of President Barack Obama.

Obama posted a 45 percent approval rating in a recent USA Today/Gallup poll, which is higher than expected, the Christian Science Monitor (CSM) quoted Newport, as saying.ompared with other recent presidents, President Obama’s approval numbers are “over-performing,” given the struggling economy and Americans’ low levels of satisfaction with the direction of the country, Newport added.

The US unemployment rate rose to 9.2 percent in June, the government reported earlier this month.

And a Gallup poll conducted July 7-10 found that just 16 percent of Americans expressed satisfaction with the way things are going in the country – the lowest figure in two years.

Still, Obama posted a 45 percent approval rating in the USA Today/Gallup poll conducted July 15-17.

“Looking at history, particularly Clinton and Reagan, it is somewhat surprising that [Obama] has never yet fallen into the 30 percent range in our approval rating, and yet both Reagan and Clinton, in their first terms when the economy was perceived as bad … both fell into the 30s,” Newport said.

Pollsters are not sure why Obama has fared better than expected in the polls.

But Newport offered two possibilities. “One theory has to do with personal characteristics of the man, and the other has to do with the nature of politics today.” (ANI)