WASHINGTON, Jan 30: US President Barack Obama's popularity has hit 60 per cent, the highest level since he first took office four years ago, according to a poll released on Wednesday.

The survey by ABC television and The Washington Post was made public just a little more than a week after the president’s formal swearing-in was witnessed by an estimated one million people in Washington and millions more across the nation.

The pollsters credited public approval of the president's inauguration address for his soaring poll numbers.

In that address, Obama embraced a liberal agenda that vowed action during his second term on gun reform, gay rights and the environment, among other issues. But while the poll showed he has broad public support, it also found that his popularity is slightly less than that enjoyed by two other re-elected presidents — Bill Clinton and Ronald Reagan — at the start of their second terms.—AFP