Poll: Obama approval hits 50 percent

Half of Americans approve of President Obama’s job performance for the first time in 19 months, according to a new poll released Monday.

It is the first time that Obama has held a 50 percent approval rating in the Gallup daily tracking poll since June 2013. He’s now 5 percentage points above water, with 45 percent of Americans disapproving of his job performance.

{mosads}The Gallup survey is the latest in a series of polls showing the president’s numbers rebounding — although most show more voters disapprove than approve of the president.

An NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll released earlier this month showed Obama with 46 percent approval and 48 percent disapproval, while an ABC News/Washington Post report showed the president at a 47percent to 48 percent disadvantage.

But in both cases, the president has shown significant improvement from November, when his party suffered devastating election loses — thanks, in no small part, to improving economic sentiments.

In the NBC poll, 41 percent of Americans said the economy is now in “good shape,” up from 27 percent just three months ago. That’s the best economic sentiment since before the recession. The number of Americans who say the country is headed on the wrong track is down 12 percentage points from last fall.