Poll: Obama will do better in second term

Voters expect President Obama to do a better job during his second term than he did during his first four years in office, according to a new poll.

A CNN/ORC International poll released Thursday shows 46 percent saying Obama will perform better over the next four years, with 22 percent believing he will do a worse job. About 3 in 10 respondents said he would be the same as in his first term.

The poll shows a sharp divide between Democrats and Republicans in their expectations, with eight in 10 members of the president’s party saying he will do better in his second term. Half of GOP voters said Obama will do the same, with 43 percent saying he will be worse.

Independents are more optimistic, with 30 percent saying he will do a better job and a third expecting the same.

The poll’s findings come as the president returns to Washington to continue efforts to find a deficit deal to avoid January’s looming “fiscal cliff.”

Polls show that voters are more likely to blame congressional Republicans if talks falter than Obama, and the president has also been boosted by high approval ratings.

Obama hit a high of 57 percent in Gallup’s three-day approval rating on Wednesday, his highest mark since October of 2009.  

A Gallup poll released Wednesday also showed that a majority of Americans, 54 percent, approved of the president’s handling of deficit negotiations. By contrast, only 26 percent of Americans were happy with how GOP leaders in Congress were handling talks. 

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