United States President George W Bush's approval ratings has bounced back to 56 per cent, said a CNN-USA Today-Gallup poll.
The US president's ratings had been on a steady decline in recent weeks.
In mid-September, the president's approval was at 50 per cent in a similar poll and at 49 per cent in an NBC-Wall Street Journal survey.
The recent poll was conducted October 10-12 and released on Monday.
Gallup Executive Editor Frank Newport, who refused to pinpoint one single reason for the upsurge, said several possible factors were responsible for the favourable tide for Bush.
Improving economy, including the booming stock market, the Bush administration's lobbying on Iraq, media coverage of the California recall election that pushed criticism of the president off the front pages were some of the reasons cited by Newport.
In the survey, 53 per cent of registered voters said the president deserves a second term, 45 per cent said he does not.
Still, the poll hinted that the 2004 race appears close at this stage. Thirty-eight per cent said they would definitely vote for Bush, 38 per cent said they would definitely vote against him and 24 per cent said they were unsure.
Agencies
