What's behind Obama's rebounding approval rating?

Improving economic expectations clearly are benefiting Obama. Among the 44 percent of adults who said they expected their financial situation to improve over the next year, 56 percent approved of his performance while 38 percent disapproved. The 46 percent who expect their financial situation to remain unchanged tilted against him: 40 percent approved and 54 percent disapproved. And with the 8 percent who thought their situation would deteriorate, just 24 percent approved, while 68 percent disapproved.

Those stark divisions suggest that Obama’s approval rating could rise at least somewhat further if sustained growth continues to increase the share of Americans upbeat about their economic future.

Compared with last October, the new survey found Obama’s approval rating jumping 7 percentage points among both Democrats and independents, as well as 8 points among minorities (reaching 66 percent with them, his best showing since September 2013). Mark Buck, a Native-American independent who operates an excavating business near Toledo, Ohio, gave the president good marks not only on the economy—his business, Buck says, “is really starting to take off pretty well”—but also the passage of his health reform law. “Helping people out with health care is a big thing, because people have struggled, like myself,” says Buck. After a construction accident in 2004, he continued, “For 10 years, nobody would sell me insurance. Fortunately, now I can get that and finally get my checkups … without being so concerned about spending all of that money out of pocket to keep up with my health.”