Obama approval rating spiking; State of Indian Nations address today

Fewer people watched President Obama's State of the Union Address this year suggesting that Americans are giving him the benefit of the doubt about a successful crossing for the ship of state.

One right leaning polling group quizzed likely voters:

The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Thursday shows that 25% of the nation's voters Strongly Approve of the way that Barack Obama is performing his role as president. Thirty-eight percent (38%) Strongly Disapprove, giving Obama a Presidential Approval Index rating of -13 (see trends). That’s the president’s best rating in a month and comes at a time when the number who say the country is moving in the right direction has reached the highest level in seven months at 26%.

The President is not polling well among people self-identifying as independents. From a Pew survey of representative Americans:

Barack Obama enters his fourth year in office with about as many Americans disapproving (48%) as approving (44%) of the job he is doing in office. Obama continues to get stronger ratings on foreign and security policy than on economic issues at home. When asked what one word best describes people’s impressions of Barack Obama, the most frequent responses are Good (24 mentions) Incompetent (21), Intelligent (19), Socialist (17), Honest (16), Trying (16) and Disappointing (15).

Live streaming for the State of Indian Nations address here.