Obama most popular world leader

nytimes.com:

PARIS: President Barack Obama remains by far the most popular world leader among people in major Western nations and is the one political figure on whom people consistently pin their hopes in the economic crisis, according to new polls conducted for the International Herald Tribune.

Also domestically and after three months on the job, President Obama continues to be widely popular.

That is according to a new poll released today by Gallup that shows Obama's approval rating at 65%.

President Obama's approval rating has stayed relatively consistent -- and high -- since he was sworn into office in January. He started out with a 66% rating and dropped temporarily to 62% in March.

That puts Obama into a select group of presidents whose approval ratings have increased from February to May of their first year in office.

Since World War II, only three first-term presidents -- Dwight Eisenhower, John Kennedy, and Ronald Reagan -- have had a higher average approval rating in May of their first year.