As President Barack Obama celebrates his first President’s Day in the Oval Office, nearly two-thirds of Americans (64%) approve of the way he is handling the job, an initial approval rating higher than that of his most-recent predecessors — George W. Bush (53%) and Bill Clinton (56%). Obama’s personal image is also very strong. Overwhelming majorities view Obama as a strong leader (77%) and trustworthy (76%), while an even higher percentage (92%) says he is a good communicator. And two-thirds of Americans — including a narrow majority of Republicans — say that Obama “has a new approach to politics in Washington.” Read More

Russell Heimlich  is a former web developer at Pew Research Center.