Typically, Gallup has found, incumbent presidents with 50 percent approval ratings or above are easily re-elected for a second term. Obama has reached or neared that level in a few national polls and national tracking polls this week.
Perhaps the most significant swing came in the right-leaning Rasmussen poll, in which Obama's approval-to-disapproval split now stands at 51-49. Last Sunday, the split was 47-52. In total, that's a meaningful 7-point swing. Moreover, the number of voters who "strongly approve" of the president has also jumped 7 points since just Tuesday.
The left-leaning Public Policy Polling also found a big lift for Obama — though his approval still sits below 50 percent. In what was a brutal poll for the president last Sunday, his approval-to-disapproval was 44-52. It's now 48-47, an incredible 9-point swing.
Other polls have displayed the same trend, though it's more subdued movement. In Fox News' latest poll through last Tuesday, for example, Obama's approval rating was up 2 points to 51 percent when compared to a previous poll from three weeks ago. The Washington Post and ABC News tracking poll also displays a slight, 2-point shift from Oct. 25.
It's unclear how much this is a result, if at all, of the president's response to Superstorm Sandy — a WaPo/ABC poll last week found that nearly 80 percent of voters approved of his handling of the aftermath. Either way, though, Obama's approval rating is ticking up to good historical precedents at exactly the right time — two days before voters choose between him and Republican Mitt Romney at the polls.
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