Poll: Obama fares well despite economy

WASHINGTON, May 16 (UPI) -- More than half of Americans approve of President Obama and are open to re-electing him despite concerns about the economy, a Politico poll indicates.

The economy and government spending were the dominant issues in the latest Politico-George Washington University Battleground Poll released Monday, with 48 percent identifying either "the economy and jobs" or "government spending and the budget deficit" as their top issues.

Fifty-two percent of participants said they approve of Obama's handling of his job, up 7 percentage points from a Battleground Poll conducted in October. Additionally, 72 percent said they approve of Obama personally, also up 7 percentage points since October.

Obama's strong approval ratings were enhanced further by the 59 percent of participants who said they would either "definitely" vote for the president or "consider" re-electing him, the poll indicated. Thirty-eight percent "definitely will not" vote for the president's re-election.

Obama's recent rise in approval ratings in several national polls has been attributed to the killing of al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden by U.S. forces.

However, 84 percent said in the Politico-GWU poll bin Laden's death made "no difference" in whether they plan to vote for Obama. Twelve percent said they are more likely to support him and 3 percent said they are less likely.

Results are based on a nationwide telephone poll of 1,000 registered voters conducted May 8-12. The margin of error is 3.1 percentage points. The poll was conducted jointly by Democratic firm Lake Research Partners and Republican polling firm of Tarrance Group.