President Obama's Approval Rating on the Rise, Finds Newest Poll

The political climate is becoming sunnier for President Barack Obama, according to a new CNN/ORC International poll.

The poll, released Feb. 15, shows Obama's approval rating is up to 50 percent, the highest it has been since May 2011. Polling numbers for that month ranged from 51 percent to 54 percent.

That isn't the only good news for the President and his party, as the majority of Americans -- 77 percent -- still disapprove of how Republican Congressional leadership has been handling their jobs. Democratic leadership fared slightly better, although with a majority disapproval rating of 67 percent. That is down 1 percent from a November poll.

Enthusiasm of Democratic voters for voting for Obama remains close to the same, while those excited to vote for a Republican candidate have slightly waning enthusiasm. This could be in part by the negativity of the GOP bids for candidacy.

Obama leads when matched up with any of the four Republican candidates, having gained points on Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich and Ron Paul since January.

Only Rick Santorum's number remain the same, although he is losing to Obama by seven points. That is one point more than last month, indicating 1 percent of undecided voters have decided to go with the President as their choice.

It's worth noting, in relation to those numbers, that the majority of Americans believe that Obama, Santorum and Paul are looking after the interests of the middle class. Most think that Romney and Gingrich are for the rich.

Congressman Paul has the highest rating for favoring the middle class, at 52 percent.

While most of those polled still believe things in the country are still going very badly, less believe it. All negative choices were down slightly, as the numbers of those who think the country is doing very well also rose a percentage point. The big news in these numbers is that those who think the country is going fairly well has risen ten points since December.

All of this paints a very bright picture for Obama's re-election, as the primary season has disenchanted Republican voters. It also highlights that the President needs to generate more enthusiasm from his base and the middle class, so he can retain his lead in the polls.

ORC International conducted 1,026 combined cell and landline telephone interviews with voting age Americans, from Feb. 10 through 13, for poll sampling. Of those polled, 937 were registered voters.