Obama's continued popularity boosts Hillary Clinton's chances; here's how

Polls say President Obama has better approval ratings than when he won his second term in 2012

Even as US President Barack Obama campaigns for Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, his own approval ratings are better than when he won his second term in 2012, according to a recent CBS/NYT poll.

The CBS/NYT poll added that his approval ratings are at 54 per cent, which is far higher than George W Bush's ratings (20 per cent) but lower than those of Bill Clinton (61 per cent) and Ronald Reagan (60 per cent) during similar times in their respective presidencies.

A CNN/ORC poll on October 27 provided similar results as the CBS/NYT polls. According to the CNN/ORC poll, Obama's ratings are at 55 per cent, which is far higher than George W Bush's ratings (27 per cent) but slightly lower than that of Bill Clinton (57 per cent) and slightly better than that of Ronald Reagan (51 per cent). 
 

A Gallup poll has also said that his approval ratings have been consistently above 50 per cent since late January of 2016. 

All these polls indicate that he is still considerably popular, which Clinton thinks is critical for her election campaign as many polls show that her lead over Donald Trump is narrowing and the race is tightening. 

Here's how Obama has been helping the Clinton campaign
 

African-American votes:

Commenting on Obama's role in this election, NBCNews said, "Even on election day in 2008, some Obama supporters were deeply worried about the "Bradley Effect" — that white voters would tell pollsters they would vote for an African-American candidate but then not do so. Eight years later, the question is not, "Can the Obamas win a presidential election?" but rather, "Can you win a presidential election without the Obamas?"

This analysis indicates that Obama's support is critical for Hillary's victory, especially to win African-American votes.

Aggressive campaign for Hillary:

President Obama has also not spared Republican presidential nominee Trump when it comes to criticising him.

President Obama lashed out at Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump’s supporters, saying his popularity among working-class Americans is “frustrating”, said PressTV-Iran.

It added that Obama said that the New York businessman was “born with a silver spoon” and nobody should believe his claims of being a friend of the middle class.

According to PressTV, Trump responded in Jacksonville as saying, "Why isn’t he back in the White House bringing our jobs back? This guy ought to be back in the office working. He’s not going to be there very long, thank goodness, but he ought to be back in the office working."

Criticising the FBI director:

Clinton might also need the President's help as her campaign faces the 11th hour challenge from the Federal Bureau of Investigation's (FBI's) move to re-open her email case. 

Obama has criticised FBI Director James Comey's decision to re-investigate the Clinton's email scandal, after the agency found new emails of her in the computer of her aide Huma Abedin's ex-husband, Anthony Weiner.

Citing NowThisNews, CNN quoted Obama as saying, "We don't operate on innuendo", indicating that FBI is not sure whether she is guilty.