Obama's rating highest in 2 years

Washington: Americans' favourable ratings of Barack Obama have touched 53 per cent, marking the US President's highest score since September, 2013.

Obama's favourable rating have increased four points from March in the May 6-10 Gallup poll and the score comes after a year in which these ratings were mostly below 50 per cent.

"Americans in general are more inclined to give Obama a favourable personal rating than they are to approve of the job he is doing. Obama's favourable and job approval ratings have each improved this year, and his current 53 per cent favourable rating is the highest since late 2013," it said in a statement yesterday.

The recent increase in how Americans view Obama, and likely also his performance, might have something to do with his attempts to bridge various communities in the recent months - such as police and racial minorities; Cuba and the US; and members of Congress from both parties who are pro- and anti- trade, it noted.

As he serves out his seventh year in office, Obama's favourability is higher than it was in his sixth year, when he received a record-low rating after the 2014 mid-term elections.

Excluding his first year, when his favourable ratings averaged 62 per cent, his favourables have been fairly steady - as have his job approval ratings.

The poll results were based on telephone interviews conducted on the Gallup US Daily survey with a random sample of 1,024 adults, aged 18 and older, living in all 50 US states and the District of Columbia.