Obama approval rating is 68 per cent

PRESIDENT Barack Obama has an approval rating of 68 per cent, a higher figure than his predecessor had at his 100-day mark in office, a poll found.

The New York Times/CBS News poll also showed that two- thirds of Americans say race relations in the country are generally good, with the percentage of black respondents who say so doubling since last July. Half of black Americans still believe that white people have more opportunity to get ahead in society, according to the survey.
In a sign of the strong support Obama maintains in the black community, 70 per cent of the polled black respondents said the country is on the right track, compared with 34 per cent of white respondents.
The first US black president will mark his 100th day in office today by answering voters’ questions in Missouri and holding a primetime news conference in Washington.
The nationwide poll of almost 1 000 adults from April 22-26 shows widespread support for how Obama has addressed issues, including whether Congress should investigate interrogation methods authorised by former President George W. Bush.
Sixty-two per cent of Americans agreed with Obama that hearings looking into the matter aren’t necessary, according to the survey.
The telephone poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points for all adults and plus or minus 7 percentage points for black respondents.
Bush’s Rating
Bush had an approval rating of 56 per cent at this point in his first term in a similar survey. The Times/CBS News poll figures for other recent presidents weren’t provided.
In the new poll, 62 per cent of white respondents approved of Obama’s performance. Among black respondents, his approval rating was 96 per cent.
Among all those questioned, 72 per cent said they are optimistic about the next four years. And most of the respondents said they expect Obama to make progress in overhauling health care, energy and immigration policy.
At the same time, most people questioned said they don’t expect the president to be able to end the war in Iraq or the economic recession by the end of his first term.
Fewer than half, 48 per cent, said the president has started to make progress on changing the way business is done in Washington, one of Obama’s key campaign pledges. Only 39 per cent said he’s making headway on another top promise: cutting taxes for middle-class workers.
– Bloomberg