Barack Obama has attained extraordinarily high levels of public approval, according to opinion polls released on Sunday, ahead of his historic inauguration ceremony as the first African-American president.
A survey conducted by The New York Times and CBS News found a US public eager to give the president-elect a wide berth as he attempts to turn around a faltering US economy, tackle global warming, help solve the intractable Middle East peace process, along with a plethora of other mammoth challenges.
Of those surveyed, 79 per cent were optimistic about the next four years under Obama, the highest level of goodwill attained by any of the past five incoming presidents.
Most Americans told The Times that they did not expect real progress in improving the economy, reforming the health care system or ending the war in Iraq - three of the central promises of the Obama campaign for at least two years.
The poll found that two-thirds of respondents think the recession will last two years or longer - midway through Obama's four-year term as its 44th president.
By contrast, outgoing President George W Bush is leaving office with just 22 per cent of Americans offering a favourable view of how he handled the eight years of his presidency, according to the poll - a record low.
More than 80 per cent of respondents said America is in worse shape today than it was five years ago.
The telephone survey of 1,100 adults was conducted between January 11 and 15, and has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus three percentage points.
Meanwhile, CNN television polled 1,245 adult Americans, found that 84 per cent of respondents approve of how Barack Obama is handling his presidential transition.
The poll taken by Opinion Research Corporation from January 12 to 15 found that nearly nine in 10 US blacks report being thrilled or happy about Obama's impending inauguration.
The phone poll, conducted by between January 12 and 15 also had a three per cent sampling error.
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