Washington DC [USA], Nov. 8 : As the US election got bitter and exhausting, President Barack Obama's approval ratings have been the highest since his first days in office.
For the first time in decades - dating back to Ronald Reagan - a lame-duck incumbent is in high demand on the campaign trail, says the Washington Post.
He was greeted by screaming crowds on each of his stops for Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton.
The good feelings even extend to first lady Michelle Obama, who has been Clinton's most effective surrogate, campaigning alongside her in North Carolina last month.
Obama has surely earned all this love with respectable job growth and that the White House has not been hobbled by any significant scandals in the second term.
But the biggest reason for the late term surge in presidential popularity may be the election itself which is often a referendum on the incumbent.
And in this election, Clinton and Republican nominee Donald Trump have been blasting away at each other in what amounts to a contest about character.
Even a recent surge in premiums associated with the Affordable Care Act, Obama's signature domestic policy accomplishment has left him largely unscathed and broader Republican attacks on him have been ineffective.
Also, both the President and the first lady have been in heavy rotation on the TV talk-show circuit. In the final months of his presidency, Obama has played on the public nostalgia, returning repeatedly to the broader themes of the 2004 Democratic National Convention speech that made him a political star and his 2008 inaugural address.
Obama's campaign audiences are often full of young, college-age voters, many of whom were still in elementary school when he was elected.
Source: ANI
