By IANS,
Washington : As President Barack Obama completes 100 days in office Wednesday, he continues to remain hugely popular and have strong public approval, a new Washington Post-ABC News poll shows.
Obama’s overall rating remains high, with 69 percent of Americans approving of his job performance, the Washington Post reported Sunday.
He also gets good marks for his handling of the economy. Majorities said that Obama has exceeded their expectations in his first three months in office, has accomplished a lot and has kept his main campaign promises.
Further, public optimism about the economy and the country’s direction also remains on the rise since his historic election.
Two-thirds of those polled approve of Obama’s handling of international affairs in general, up slightly from last month.
The president continues to get high personal favourability ratings across a range of attributes. Overall, 72 percent of Americans have a favourable impression of Obama, down slightly from the eve of his inaugural but far higher than it was during the 2008 campaign, the Post reported.
Nearly two-thirds of the respondents said Obama has accomplished “a great deal” or “a good amount” in his first three months in office.
About three-quarters of Americans see Obama as a “strong leader,” as “honest and trustworthy,” as empathetic and as someone who can be trusted in a crisis. Six in 10 said he is in sync with their values, and nearly as many rate him a good commander in chief.
However, Obama’s recent decision to release previously secret government memos on the interrogation of terrorism suspects has not gone down well with Americans.
“Overall, the public is about evenly divided on the questions of whether torture is justifiable in terrorism cases and whether there should be official inquiries into any past illegality involving the treatment of terrorism suspects. About half of all Americans, and 52 percent of independents, said there are circumstances in which the US should consider employing torture against such suspects,” the Post said.