Obama's Popularity Has Improved

While the popularity of Congress remains extremely low (especially congressional Republicans, who poll consistently worse than congressional Democrats), that is not true for President Obama. The president's popularity is improving. In 2011, the average national job approval for President Obama was 44%. That rose to a national average approval of 48% in 2012. And the good news for the president doesn't stop there. In the last quarter of 2012, the president's approval rating rose to 51.9% -- and his approval during the first weeks of 2013 remains above 50%.

That gives the president some political capital to use in trying to get Congress to pass some of his second-term proposals such as gun restrictions, immigration reforms, and job creation -- far more political capital than that of Congress (which is still down in the 12% approval range).

The presidential approval numbers are from a Gallup Poll survey of 165,427 randomly selected people between January 1st and December 31st of 2012 (with a margin of error for the national numbers being only 1 point). The chart below shows the state by state approval ratings of the president. Note that his approval ratings rose in 43 states and the District of Columbia. Alabama had the same rating for both 2011 and 2012, and six states showed a drop in approval for the president (West Virginia, Utah, Nebraska, Wyoming, North Dakota, and Alaska).