Poll: Majority of Americans view Obama favorably

A majority of Americans view President Obama favorably less than two weeks before he leaves office, according to a new poll.

The Associated Press–NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll found that 57 percent of Americans view Obama favorably and just 37 percent view him unfavorably.

In a December 2014 AP–GfK poll, only 41 percent said they viewed the president favorably.

Views of the president are split among party lines, according to the recent poll, with nearly 90 percent of Democrats viewing him favorably and about 75 percent of Republicans viewing him negatively.

{mosads}Nearly 80 percent of African-Americans view Obama favorably, but only 43 percent say Obama made things better for black people while in office. About half said they saw no difference, and 6 percent said Obama made things worse.

The poll also found 44 percent of respondents said Obama tried to keep his promises but failed. Twenty-two percent said he didn’t keep his promises and 32 percent said he did keep them.

Only 27 percent of Americans see the U.S. as more united at the end of Obama’s presidency, and 44 percent see it as more divided.

Only about 40 percent of Americans said their families are better off now than when Obama first took office and about a quarter of Americans say they are worse off. 

The poll was conducted from Dec. 14 to 19 among 1,019 adults. The margin of error is 3.7 percentage points.