Why Obama's approval rating is rising

About a quarter say the economy is in good shape in the new poll, similar to pre-election poll results, but optimism about the economy has dipped since before the election. In October, 52 percent of Americans said they expected the economy to get better in the next year; now, that stands at 40 percent. Among Republicans, the share saying the economy will improve in the coming year has dropped sharply since before the election, from 42 percent in October to 16 percent now.

"The economy, if left alone, will gradually improve because of our people wanting to better themselves and make more money," said Bobby Jordan, 76, a Romney voter from Green Valley, Ariz. "They're going to be doing things to improve their own position, which will collectively mean the economy will gradually get a little better. But (Obama's) not doing anything to improve the economy."

Overall, the public gives Democrats the advantage on handling the economy, 45 percent saying they trust the president's party to do a better job on it, 39 percent favoring Republicans.

As Obama took office four years ago, Republicans were mostly optimistic about his chances for improving the economy, with nearly 7 in 10 saying it was likely the new president could improve it in his first four years in office. Now, just 21 percent of Republicans feel the next four years are that promising. Independents, too, have grown skeptical about Obama's ability to turn around the economy. About three-quarters thought he could fix it in 2009; just a third do now.

Those sharp partisan divides in expectations are represented in the president's approval ratings. About 9 in 10 Democrats say they approve of the way Obama is handling his job, compared with just 2 in 10 Republicans. That gap approaches the 82-point partisan gap in George W. Bush's approval ratings according to Gallup polling in December 2004.

The Associated Press-GfK Poll was conducted Nov. 29-Dec. 3 by GfK Roper Public Affairs and Corporate Communications. It involved landline and cellphone interviews with 1,002 adults nationwide. Results for the full sample have a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3.9 percentage points; it is larger for subgroups.

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EDITOR'S NOTE — Jennifer Agiesta is director of polling for The Associated Press.

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Associated Press News Survey Specialist Dennis Junius and AP writer Stacy A. Anderson contributed to this report.

Copyright 2012 The Associated Press.

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