Obama approval ratings high as he prepares to leave office

Barack Obama leaves the White House Friday with his popularity nearly as high as it was when he took office eight years ago. In poll after poll, the numbers are all flattering for the Democratic president as he prepares to hand over power to Republican Donald Trump. The latest poll, released Wednesday by CNN/ORC, found that 60 percent of Americans approve of his performance in office, his best score since June 2009. His approval ratings are among the highest for US presidents at the end of their term, just behind Bill Clinton (66 percent in January 2001) and Ronald Reagan (64 percent in January 1989). Moreover, nearly two thirds of Americans (65 percent) consider his presidency to have been a success. Obama, 55, is set to hold his last White House press conference on Wednesday before Trump's inauguration Friday as the 45th president of the United States. On Tuesday, Trump dismissed the polls as "rigged" after a Washington Post-ABC News survey found that he had the lowest approval rating at 40 percent of any incoming president-elect since Jimmy Carter in 1977.