Obama’s Approval Rating Continues To Rise

President Barack Obama’s approval ratings have hit their highest peak since his first year in office in 2009.

The outgoing president’s popularity is in stark contrast to the results of the Nov. 8 election, when America elected a candidate who had run to repudiate his policies.

Following the election of President-elect Donald Trump, polling indicates that Obama remains one of the most popular outgoing presidents in modern U.S. history, The Huffington Post reports.

Gallup found that 57 percent of Americans approve of Obama’s job performance, while only 40 percent disapprove. A Politico/Morning Consult poll found that 50 percent of respondents approve of Obama while 46 percent disapprove.

Aggregating presidential approval ratings released since election day, the HuffPost Pollster chart found on Nov. 15 that Obama is at his most popular since 2009, averaging with 52.5 percent approval.

In the final months of his second term, President Obama’s approval rating has only been dwarfed by former Presidents Dwight Eisenhower in 1960 and Bill Clinton in 2000, according to Reason.

It is difficult to square how Obama could enjoy such healthy approval ratings despite the election of Trump, who has previously blasted the outgoing president as “the worst president, maybe in the history of our country.”

“I think he’s been a disaster,” Trump told Fox News in August. “He’s been weak, he’s been ineffective.”

Now President Obama is working to provide Trump with a smooth transition into power. On Nov. 14, Obama said he was confident the President-elect could hit the ground running because he has inherited an America that is doing better than it had eight years ago.

“As I told my staff, we should be very proud that their work has already ensured that when we turn over the keys, the car’s in pretty good shape,” Obama said during a press conference, according to TIME Magazine. “We are indisputably in a stronger position today than we were when I came in eight years ago … Hopefully there’s an opportunity for the next president to build on that.”

One reason why Obama’s approval rating was not predictive of the election outcome could be that many Americans are unhappy with the direction of the country, despite liking the man leading it.

Aggregating the last nine surveys released since Oct. 17, Real Clear Politics found that only an average of 30 percent of Americans are happy with the direction of the U.S.

In October, White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest offered that many Americans find Obama an affable and uniting figure despite a toxic political climate.

“They see the President as somebody who actually can be a role model to our kids,” Earnest said, according to Politico. “The public’s appraisal of the president’s character is one that even in the most difficult times has been pretty durable.”

Sources: Fox News, The Huffington Post, Politico, Real Clear Politics, Reason, TIME Magazine / Photo Credit: Erik Drost/Flickr