Compared to one month ago, President Obama’s overall job approval ratings have improved, from 43% approve – 50% disapprove April 2-5 to 48% approve – 47% disapprove May 2-4, in the immediate aftermath of the raid.
While overall job approval went up 5 percentage points, from 43% to 48%, in that month’s time, approval ratings on specific issues increased by a greater amount. Here are positive scores for Obama’s handling of specific issues that have improved by more than his +5 improvement on overall job approval since one month ago:
- Terrorism, +15 points (43% in April, his highest rating on any issue at the time, to 58% today)
- Afghanistan war, +10 (37% in April, 47% in today)
- Iraq war, +8 (39% in April, 47% today)
Positive scores on some attributes improved more than his +5 improvement on overall job performance:
- Strong leader, +11 (35% when asked April 23-26, 46% today)
- Effective, +9 (21% in early April, 30% today)
- Realistic, +7 (31% in early April, 38% today)
- Decisive, +7 (21% in early April, 28% today)
- There was little movement, however, on attributes such as Bold (no change), Patriotic (+5) or Inspiring (-1).
Between April 23-26 and today, the number who believe Obama was born in the U.S. increased from 55% in late April to 69% today. The number who believe Obama is a Muslim shrank, from 23% in late April to 18% today.
Results are based on Web-based polls of respondents from its PollingPoint opt-in Internet panel by YouGov, the most recent conducted May 2-4, 2011.
