US President Barack Obama is enjoying a high 61 per cent job approval rating in America for his handling of foreign affairs, but has suffered a marginal slump in public backing on his tackling of the financial crisis, a national opinion poll has said.
The approval on the foreign front is up by seven points since February, the Gallup said in its latest opinion poll on Obama released yesterday.
His job approval rating for handling the economy at 56 per cent is down by a slight margin of three points. This is, however, higher than his rating for handling the federal budget deficit of 49 per cent, it said.
The survey was conducted from March 27 to 29. So far the main focus of Obama, who currently is on his first multi- stop foreign trip since he became the US President, has been on the domestic front, primarily on handling the economic crisis.
However, he has taken some major decisions on foreign policy front including withdrawal of troops from Iraq, new Af-Pak policy, the whirlwind tour of his Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton.
Throughout all this, as more Americans have formed an opinion of Obama's handling of foreign policy, his approval and disapproval ratings on this dimension have each increased, the Gallup said.