WASHINGTON — Despite ongoing economic problems and political fighting in Washington, nearly two-thirds of Americans approve of President Obama's performance as he approaches his 100th day in the White House, a poll has found.
Sixty percent of people surveyed by the Washington-based Pew Research Center said they approved of his handling of the economy, though most respondents said that his economic policies had not had an effect so far or that it was too soon to tell their effect. On foreign policy, 61% approved of his approach.
And 63% said Obama has "a new approach to politics in Washington," compared with 27% who said his approach is "business as usual."
"People are invested in Obama," said Andrew Kohut, president of the Pew Research Center. "They want him to succeed. . . . The basic question is how long people will think this guy has the answers. Right now, a lot of people think he has the answers."
In the poll, which Pew released Thursday, 63% of respondents approved of Obama's job performance and 26% disapproved.
But as with other polls, Pew also found a wide partisan gap: 93% of Democrats approved of Obama's performance, compared with 30% of Republicans.
"This is a president who the base really likes," Kohut said, and that could give Obama latitude in dealing with liberals who want him to hold someone to account for how terrorism suspects were interrogated under President Bush.
"I think he's got a fair amount of maneuvering room with Democrats," Kohut said.
The most surprising finding, Kohut said, "is this notion of Obama still being seen as . . . someone who is going to govern differently in Washington."
The high approval ratings found by the Pew poll were echoed in a new survey by the Associated Press and GfK Roper Public Affairs and Media that found 64% approved of Obama's performance and the Gallup Poll's daily tracking survey that showed him with a 65% job approval rating.
And in the AP/GfK poll, more people said the nation is headed in the right direction than said it's going the wrong way (48% compared with 40%). Not since January 2004 has "right-direction" sentiment dominated in an AP survey.
Republican pollster Lance Tarrance suggested Obama was riding a wave of "pent-up idealism" that ultimately would be tested by how well he addressed the severe problems the nation was facing.
