Asia-Pacific

Americans approve of Obama Haiti response: CBS poll

(Agencies)
Updated: 2010-01-19 11:24

WASHINGTON: President Barack Obama gets high marks across the political spectrum for his handling of the Haiti crisis and that may have helped raise his overall job approval rating, a CBS News poll said on Monday.

Eighty percent approved of Obama's response to the Haiti crisis, with Republicans, Democrats and independents giving the president high marks, according to the poll conducted January 14-17. Just 8 percent disapproved.

Obama's overall job approval rating rose to 50 percent from an all-time low of 46 percent in last week's CBS News poll. The increase may reflect the widespread approval of his handling of the Haiti crisis, CBS said.

Obama's 50 percent approval rating one year after taking office is similar to presidents Ronald Reagan at 49 percent, Jimmy Carter at 51 percent and Bill Clinton at 54 percent, CBS News said.

It was lower than presidents George W. Bush at 82 percent, George H.W. Bush at 76 percent, John F. Kennedy at 79 percent and Dwight D. Eisenhower at 70 percent, CBS News said.

The poll also found that 49 percent of Americans believed Obama had done too much for banks, while 41 percent said he had done the right amount for the auto industry.

Sixty-two percent said Obama had done too little for small business and 54 percent said he had done too little for the middle class.

Americans were nearly divided on the benefit of healthcare reform with 41 percent saying the health system would improve if legislation passed, while 35 percent said it would get worse.

The poll of a random sample of 1090 adults was conducted by telephone and has a margin of error that could be plus or minus three percentage points.