Obama’s approval rating holds steady despite string of scandals

GlobalPost

President Barack Obama's approval rating doesn't seem to have taken a hit from the trifecta of scandals confronting his administration, according to a new poll. 

The CNN/ORC International survey, released Sunday, found that 53 percent of Americans said they approve of the job President Obama is doing; 45 percent disapproved.

His approval rating was 51 percent in CNN's last poll, taken in early April. 

"That two-point difference is well within the poll's sampling error, so it is a mistake to characterize it as a gain for the president," cautioned CNN Polling Director Keating Holland.

"Nonetheless, an approval rating that has not dropped and remains over 50 percent will probably be taken as good news by Democrats after the events of the last week," he added. 

Dan Pfeiffer, a senior advisor to Obama, told Crowley that the "American people have great faith in the president."

The White House has had one heck of a week, in between controversy over their response to last year's fatal attack in Benghazi, the DOJ's sweeping subpoenas of phone records belonging to the Associated Press, and revelations that IRS authorities had singled out conservative groups for special scrutiny. 

The poll found that the American public was taking these issues seriously, with 55 percent saying the IRS and Benghazi matters are "very important to the nation" and 53 percent saying the same thing about the AP records seizure. 

More from GlobalPost: The Associated Press, IRS scandals build unlikely bridge over bipartisan divide

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