Which Is It? Two Polls, Two Very Different Approval Ratings For Obama

President Barack Obama pauses as he speaks at McGavock High School, Thursday, Jan. 30, 2014, in Nashville, Tenn., about education. President Obama also talked about a fatal shooting involving two students at the sch... President Barack Obama pauses as he speaks at McGavock High School, Thursday, Jan. 30, 2014, in Nashville, Tenn., about education. President Obama also talked about a fatal shooting involving two students at the school earlier this week. This trip is part of a four-stop tour President Barack Obama is making to expand on themes from his State of the Union address. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster) MORE LESS
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A poll released late Tuesday found President Obama on the rebound, his approval rating undergoing the biggest positive change of his presidency. Hours later, out came another poll that told a very different story: Obama’s approval rating had hit a new low.

The two polls were conducted at virtually the same time, used virtually the same sample size and have identical margins-of-error.

First, the positive poll for Obama, which came courtesy Bloomberg. It found 48 percent of American adults giving the president positive marks for his job performance, a marked increase from the 42 percent who approved of Obama in Bloomberg’s December poll.

“The six-point increase in Obama’s approval rating puts him back in the territory he typically occupies,” said Ann Selzer, the Iowa-based pollster who conducted Bloomberg’s survey.

Bloomberg’s poll also showed Obama with a 49 percent favorability rating, the highest mark since last June. Forty-nine percent said they have an unfavorable opinion of Obama.

But the poll also found majorities disapproving the president’s performance on a range of different issues, findings that more closely resemble the results of the latest NBC/Wall Street Journal survey, which showed Obama’s approval rating dipping to 41 percent.

That represents a low mark for Obama in NBC/WSJ’s poll. Fifty-four percent said they disapprove. And NBC/WSJ found Obama’s personal popularity underwater: 44 percent said they have a negative view of the president, while 41 percent said they have a positive view.

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