Family Life

01.26.09 | FL News Team

The new Gallup poll shows President Obama off to a strong start. A survey of more than 15-hundred adults conducted during the first three days of his administration found 68-percent liked the way Obama's settling into his new job. Obama's approval rating puts him second to JFK and tied with President Eisenhower for elected presidents since World War Two.

Some 21-percent had no opinion in the survey. Obama's disapproval rating was 12-percent. That rate is less than half the disapproval rating for George W. Bush in 2001. Bill Clinton took office with a 20-percent disapproval rating in 1993.

Both of Obama's immediate predecessors also provoked strong dislike among opposing partisans. 41-percent of Republicans disapproved of Clinton, while 46-percent of Democrats disliked Bush.  But only 30-percent of Republicans say they are not warming to Obama, while 43-percent of them like the new president. The approval rating among Democrats was 88-percent and 62-percent for independents. 

In the daily tracking poll released early today, Obama's rating nudged upward to 69-percent. Gallup says if history is any guide, that number should keep climbing for a few months.