Obama’s job approval numbers tick upward

President Obama’s job approval rating has inched up to 47 percent, according to a survey released Sunday by Gallup, the best showing for the president in more than seven months.

{mosads}Obama still remains underwater, with 49 percent of Americans disapproving of his job as president. But Sunday marked the first time since June fewer a than half of respondents reported dissatisfaction with the way the president was handling his job.

The survey suggests Obama has been bolstered by his recent executive actions on immigration and Cuba policy, as well as a willingness and ability to corral some congressional Democrats into supporting a $1.1 trillion government funding bill. The White House has also spent recent weeks touting wage and job growth, as well as a substantial decline in oil prices.

At a press conference before departing to Hawaii for his annual holiday vacation, Obama argued it has been a “breakthrough year” for the country.

“Take any metric that you want, America’s resurgence is real. We are better off,” he said.

But Obama has repeatedly seen signs of momentum in recent months stalled by intervening and unexpected events, from Russia’s incursions into Ukraine to the rise of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria to the Ebola crisis. And the sunny polling data does not account for the opinions of the president in the aftermath of Saturday’s shooting of two New York City police officers.

Some Republican critics have criticized the president in the aftermath of the shooting for comments critical of police tactics following grand jury decisions this summer not to indict police officers who killed unarmed black men during attempted arrests.

“It’s really time for our national leaders, the president, it’s time for the mayor of New York, and really for many in the media to stop the cop bashing, to stop this anti-police rhetoric,” Rep. Peter King (R-N.Y.) told Fox News on Sunday.