--- title: President Barack Obama Approval Ratings Reach a High: 55% description: President Obama's approval ratings have hit a new high for his second term at 55%, according to a CNN/ORC poll released Thursday. canonical: https://time.com/4521538/barack-obama-approval-ratings/ author: Julia Zorthian article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-10-06T17:48:40.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T01:03:26.973Z article:section: Politics og:title: President Obama's Approval Ratings Haven't Been This High in Years og:description: The latest poll puts him at 55% og:url: https://time.com/4521538/barack-obama-approval-ratings/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2edc4c56eecf0443/6988a8f4fb4eac62a088f621/barack-obama-approval-rating-high.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: barack obama approval rating high og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: President Obama's Approval Ratings Haven't Been This High in Years twitter:description: The latest poll puts him at 55% twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2edc4c56eecf0443/6988a8f4fb4eac62a088f621/barack-obama-approval-rating-high.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # President Obama's Approval Ratings Haven't Been This High in Years  by [Julia Zorthian](https://time.com/author/julia-zorthian/)  ## Julia Zorthian Oct 6, 2016 5:48 PM UTC  President Obama looking pleased and reaching for the approval rating stars. President Obama looking pleased and reaching for the approval rating stars.Pool—Getty Images  by [Julia Zorthian](https://time.com/author/julia-zorthian/)  ## Julia Zorthian Oct 6, 2016 5:48 PM UTC President Obama’s approval ratings have hit a new high for his second term at 55%, according to a [CNN/ORC ](http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2016/images/10/05/obama.pdf.pdf)poll released Thursday. It continues a seven-month streak of approval ratings [over 50%](http://time.com/3941331/barack-obama-approval-rating-poll/) for the lame-duck president. And it brings his 2016 average to 51%—its highest level since his first year as President. A similar poll a year ago put Obama’s approval 10 points lower. The rising ratings are [mostly due](http://www.politico.com/story/2016/10/obama-approval-229224) to a 12-point spike in approval from Democrats and a 14-point spike in approval from independents. Only 13% of Republicans approve of him. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4521538/barack-obama-approval-ratings/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4521538/barack-obama-approval-ratings/"},"headline":"President Obama's Approval Ratings Haven't Been This High in Years","datePublished":"2016-10-06T17:48:40.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T01:03:26.973Z","description":"The latest poll puts him at 55%","url":"https://time.com/4521538/barack-obama-approval-ratings/","keywords":["White House","Barack Obama","politics"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2edc4c56eecf0443/6988a8f4fb4eac62a088f621/barack-obama-approval-rating-high.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Julia Zorthian","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/julia-zorthian/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2edc4c56eecf0443/6988a8f4fb4eac62a088f621/barack-obama-approval-rating-high.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"barack obama approval rating high","caption":"barack obama approval rating high","creditText":"Pool—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/white-house/","name":"White House"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4521538/barack-obama-approval-ratings/","name":"President Obama's Approval Ratings Haven't Been This High in Years"}}]}] ```