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Poll: Obama approval rating highest since 2012

by Jesse Byrnes - 06/15/16 8:32 AM ET

President Obama’s approval numbers are higher than any time since 2012, with more approving of his job performance than not, according to a new poll.

A majority of voters, 51 percent, approve of Obama’s job performance in the Fox News poll released Tuesday evening, while 46 percent disapprove.

{mosads}The last time Obama’s approval rating was at 50 percent or better in the poll was in October 2012, a month before he won reelection, when approval was also 51 to 46 percent.

Obama’s high approval in the last year of his tenure has allowed Democrats to rely on him going after Donald Trump, the Republican vying to replace him as president.

Obama, whose plans to campaign on behalf of presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton were postponed after the mass shooting at an Orlando gay club, tore into Trump’s rhetoric and proposals involving Muslims on Tuesday in scathing remarks.

“He’s been one hell of a lousy president. He’s done a terrible job,” Trump fired back.

The Fox survey found that while Obama’s personal approval rating has risen, views about his administration in general are more dim though have improved over the past two years, according to the poll.

Forty-nine percent of voters say his administration has made America weaker, while 40 percent say it’s made America stronger. In June 2014, 55 percent said it had made the U.S. weaker and 35 percent said stronger.

On the economy, 37 percent say policies his administration has advocated have helped, while 35 percent say they’ve hurt the economy and another 27 percent say they’ve made no difference.

The survey of 1,004 registered voters was conducted June 5–8 via landlines and cellphones with an overall margin of error of 3 percentage points.

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