WASHINGTON, March 27 (UPI) -- Half of Americans view the U.S. Supreme Court and President Obama favorably, and a majority of Hispanics see Congress in a positive light, a poll indicates.
While Congress still has weak popularity among Americans, with only 30 percent viewing the legislature favorably, 56 percent of Hispanics -- up 21 percentage points since November 2011 -- view it favorably, the joint ABC News/Washington Post poll released Wednesday found.
ABC News attributed the jump in Congress' popularity among Hispanics to current immigration reform efforts.
Fifty-five percent of Americans view the Supreme Court favorably as it heard oral arguments this week on the civil rights issue of gay marriage, ABC News reported.
The favorable opinion the high court garnered is despite its controversial 2012 healthcare reform ruling and its widely opposed 2010 ruling on political campaign financing, ABC News said.
Obama was viewed favorably by 57 percent of Americans, though his job approval slipped from a three-year high of 55 percent in January to 50 percent earlier this month. The former measures goodwill and the latter assesses performance, ABC News said.
The poll of a random national sample of 1,014 adults was conducted by cellphone and landline March 20-24, with a sampling error margin of 3.5 points.