Here’s Barack Obama’s magic number

The ol’ double-nickle.

That’s the number that will be attached to President Barack Obama for decades to come as historians and others grapple with the legacy of the first African American president.

That is, 55 percent of registered voters approve of the president’s performance, according to the final McClatchy-Marist Poll before Obama leaves office next month.

The 55 percent ranks as Obama’s highest approval rating since August 2009. Last month, Obama’s approval rating was 51 percent.

The poll showed that 42 percent of registered voters disapproved of how the president was doing his job while 3 percent were unsure.

“For all the partisanship and bitter battles during the last eight years, President Obama is receiving strong send-off numbers,” says Dr. Lee M. Miringoff, Director of The Marist College Institute for Public Opinion.

For a comparison, Ronald Reagan left office in 1989 with a 63 percent approval while Bill Clinton scored a 66 percent approval in 2001. George W. Bush received a positive review from 34 percent of voters in 2009. Richard Nixon had a 24 percent rating shortly before he resigned the office in 1974. Meanwhile, 32 percent approved of Harry Truman’s performance as he was packing up at the end of 1952, and 34 percent had a positive view of Jimmy Carter as he prepared to leave office in 1980.

Gallup determined all these presidential approval ratings.