Poll says, Obama’s popularity highest in four years

Washington: US President Barack Obama’s popularity has hit 60 percent, according to a poll released on Wednesday.

The survey by ABC television and The Washington Post was made public just a little more than a week after the president’s formal swearing-in was witnessed by an estimated one million people in Washington and millions more across the nation.

Obama’s favorability rating at the start of this second term is higher however than that of his predecessor George W Bush at the same point during his tenure.

The 60 percent popularity represents a 10-point increase since last summer, during the heat of the contentious presidential race against Republican challenger Mitt Romney.

Obama has a way to go however, until he matches his all-time highest popularity numbers — 79 percent – achieved just days before he took office in January 2009, the pollsters said.

The telephone survey of 1,022 adults was taken between January 23 to 27 and had a 3.5 percent margin of error.