Gallup: Obama job approval at 62 percent

PRINCETON, N.J., June 9 (UPI) -- U.S. President Barack Obama's job approval rating was unchanged at 62 percent after a foreign trip highlighted by a major speech in Cairo, a Gallup Poll found.

Obama's approval rating in Gallup Poll Daily tracking averaged 62 percent from Friday to Sunday, reflecting virtually no change from Monday to Wednesday of last week, before Obama delivered a highly publicized speech in Cairo, Gallup said Monday.

The president has a 32 percent disapproval rating -- the highest of his administration -- Gallup said.

The numbers are based on telephone interviews with 1,496 adults, conducted June 1-3, 2009, and 1,544 adults, conducted June 5-7. The maximum margin of sampling error is plus or minus 3 percentage points.

Gallup also reported Monday that Obama's personal approval rating is 67 percent, even though his rating has slipped on specific issues -- with just 45 percent of those surveyed approving of his handling of federal spending and 46 percent approving of his handling of the federal budget deficit.

Those results were based on USA Today/Gallup polling data gathered from May 29-31.

Gallup said Obama's favorable and unfavorable ratings have both trended upward since the organization began to measure them in December 2006, as people learn more about him and become less likely to offer no opinion.

"At all times during the last two and a half years, however, Obama's favorable ratings have exceeded his unfavorable ratings by a significant amount," Gallup said on its Web site Monday.