Obama Approval Rating Highest Since 2009

President Barack Obama’s approval rating hit a four-year high in the days after the school shooting in Newtown, Conn., possibly reflecting a “rally around the flag” moment often seen in times of national tragedy or war.

The three-day Gallup poll released Thursday, which was taken Dec. 17 to 19, also showed a 7 percent increase in Republican approval of the president, despite a separate poll that shows the opposition party is not at all satisfied with Obama’s offers in fiscal cliff negotiations.

Fifty-six percent of Americans approve of the job Obama is doing, a five-point increase from Gallup’s poll the day before the elementary school massacre. Gallup found that 36 percent disapprove.

The 91 percent approval rating of the president by Democrats has remained relatively unchanged, however 54 percent of independents and 16 percent of Republicans also approve — a 7 percent increase in positive feelings about Obama from last week’s poll.

In a survey earlier in the week regarding contentious fiscal cliff negotiations, 79 percent of Republicans disapprove of Obama’s handling of them.

In the overall results of that poll, however, the president has a 48 percent approval rating, which is 14 points more than the approval rating for Democrats and more than 20 points better than that for Democratic and Republican leaders in Congress or Speaker of the House John Boehner.