Barack Obama's first retrospective approval ratings reveal most Americans think he did a good job

New polling has found that a majority of Americans approve of Barack Obama’s handling of the country while he was President.

Some 63% of United Stated citizens believe Obama did a good job in the first retrospective polling since he left office in 2017.

This puts him just 1% ahead of Bill Clinton (62%) and 1% behind George Bush Snr (64%).

Obama’s scoring is slightly higher than the 59% approval range he received in his final job approval rating and considerably higher than his average polling of 48%.

Topping the Gallup poll of 1,512 adults is John F Kennedy, who has a retrospective job approval of 86%, while Ronald Reagan stands in second place with 72%.

Bottom of the list of the last 10 Presidents is Richard Nixon (28%) who resigned in disgrace following the Watergate scandal.

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President Kennedy has always ranked first in the nine times Gallup has conducted the polling since 1990.

By contrast, President Nixon has always polled last or joint last, tying with President Lyndon Johnson on two occasions.

Clinton’s retrospective approval rating has dropped 7% since the previous readings in 2010, while George W Bush’s ratings have improved by 6%.

Donald Trump is not included in the polling as he is still in office but his current job approval rating stands at 40%.