Obama Approval Rating Reaches New High

President Barack Obama’s approval rating has hit a new milestone. The president’s approval rating stands at 55 percent, according to a new poll, which is the highest level in his second term.

The CNN/ORC poll was released Oct. 6. Obama has reached 55 percent approval only twice before since early 2011. His approval hit 55 percent once in mid-January 2013, and earlier toward the end of January 2011.

According to Gallup, which also tracks the president’s approval rating, Obama’s approval stands at 54 percent, a level unseen since his second inauguration in January 2012.

Obama is hoping his popularity will be a tool to help Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton become his successor.

“I will consider it a personal insult — an insult to my legacy — if this community lets down its guard and fails to activate itself in this election,” Obama told the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation Gala in September, reports CNN. “You want to give me a good sendoff? Go vote.”

“Let me just say that I think the president views himself as a clean-up hitter,” said Josh Earnest, White House press secretary, notes USA Today. “He’s got the biggest bat in the lineup. He’s the guy with the high approval rating. He’s the guy with the enormous influence among young people and African Americans and Hispanics and women who are likely to play an important role in determining the outcome of this race.”

President Obama is second in approval ratings to another Obama: his wife and first lady Michelle Obama. The first lady, who has also been hitting the campaign trail for Clinton, holds a 64 percent approval rating, according to a Gallup poll from August.

“No one in this race has [Clinton’s] experience,” Michelle Obama told a crowd in Raleigh, North Carolina, on Oct. 4, reports WTVD. “Not Barack, not Bill [Clinton]. Nobody … Either Clinton or her opponent will be the president. And if you don’t vote for her or at all, you’ll be helping her opponent, and the stakes are far too high to take that chance.” 

Sources: CNN (2), Gallup (2), USA Today, WTVD / Photo credit: The White House/Flickr