US President Barack Obama is "benefiting from remarkably high levels of optimism and confidence" among Americans about his leadership, said a New York Times report on Monday, citing the latest New York Times/CBS News poll.

Weighing Obama's one-month-old administration, more than three-quarter of the people surveyed said they were optimistic about the following four years of his leadership. Similar number of people said that they thought he was bringing real change to the way things were done in Washington and were confident in his ability to make the right decisions about the economy.

An approval rate of 63 percent provided the president with a strong position to push through his economic policies, said the poll. However, it also reflected doubts on the effectiveness of his plans in dealing with the ravaging recession, as well as a strain of populism that could test his ability to retain public support for efforts to prop up key sectors of the economy.

The national poll, which was conducted from Wednesday to Sunday with 1,112 adults participating, has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus three percentage points.

Obama has successfully explained to Americans that the country still has a long way to go in achieving economic recovery. Overall,53 percent of the public expect that the economic stimulus plan he proposed will improve things, but half of those surveyed say it is not likely to shorten the recession and over two-thirds consider that more money will be needed to revamp the economy.

Nearly all Americans think that the cost of the economic programs will have significant long-term effects on future generations, with 65 percent saying they are very concerned about increasing the national debt and 26 percent suggesting they are somewhat concerned. However, about three-quarters say they are more concerned about the current economic crisis.

The poll showed that public concerns for economic have shifted on jobs than other aspects, with 40 percent of those polled considering unemployment as the country's most serious economic woe, up substantially from the 11 percent last March, when fuel costs were the greatest concern.

Obama's approval rating is about 10 percentage points higher than either George W. Bush or Bill Clinton at the early stage of their presidencies. His job approval rating was 63 percent, including 88 percent of Democrats and 44 percent of Republicans, says the report.

(Xinhua News Agency February 24, 2009)