George W Bush more popular than Barack Obama: poll

Washington: Former US President George W Bush is now more popular than his successor Barack Obama, according to a CNN/ORC poll released on Wednesday.

The survey said 52 per cent of Americans polled have a favourable opinion of the former Republican president who was in office between 2001 and 2009, while 49 per cent share a similar feeling about the man currently in the White House.

It took nearly a decade for Americans polled to warm towards Bush, who led the United States during the September 11, 2001 attacks and launched two wars in its aftermath.

Among former presidents, George HW Bush and Bill Clinton have highly favourable ratings of 64 per cent.

The views of past presidents will likely be increasingly important in America as two political families look to field a candidate in the 2016 presidential elections.

Hillary Clinton, wife of Bill, is the leading candidate for the Democrats, while presumed candidate Jeb Bush, brother and son of the two former presidents, may test the Republican field.

The survey released on Wednesday was conducted by telephone from May 29 to 31 on a representative sample of 1,025 Americans, the margin of error is three per cent.