Obama's approval rating hits 50 percent for the first time in two years

(Image credit: Saul Loeb-Pool/Getty Images)

published 30 June 2015

Last week was very good for President Obama — and his approval rating reflects it. For the first time in more than two years, Obama has the approval of 50 percent of Americans, a new CNN/ORC poll finds. That's a five percentage point climb since the May CNN/ORC poll, when 45 percent approved of the president's work and 52 percent disapproved. This month, only 47 percent disapproved, which is the second time in two years that Obama's disapproval rating has fallen below 50 percent.

Obama's popularity bump follows a week in which the Supreme Court ruled in favor of ObamaCare and same-sex marriage — two defining issues of Obama's presidency. The president also delivered what some are hailing as his most important and moving speech in years, when he gave the eulogy at Rev. Clementa Pinckney's funeral and then sang "Amazing Grace" on national television.