With President Barack Obama nearing his 100th day in office, almost two-thirds of Americans polled said they approve of the job he is doing.

In a poll released by the Pew Research Center Thursday, 63 percent of respondents said they approve of the job Obama is doing while 26 percent said they do not approve.

According to the Pew Research Center’s newest poll, the president’s job approval rating is up from 59 percent in March, with 93 percent of Democrats and 30 percent of Republicans approving of the way the president is handling his new job.

Forty-five percent of respondents said they very strongly approve of the president’s job, including 73 percent of Democrats.

Along with the high job approval ratings in all three polls, nearly three-fourths of Americans — including 46 percent of Republicans — have a favorable opinion of Obama as a person, according to the poll.

Obama’s approval rating is higher than those received by both former presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush during the same stage of their presidencies.

Americans also greatly approve of the president’s various policy positions, with 61 percent approving of his foreign relation policies and 60 percent supporting the president’s handling of the economy. However, only 50 percent of the respondents responded favorably toward Obama’s health care, tax and budget policies.

Democratic Party of Wisconsin spokesperson Alec Loftus said he believes the president has taken important steps toward repairing the U.S. economy and foreign relations.

“[He] already passed the most ambitious recovery package in history … and President Obama has enacted tax breaks for 95 percent of working Americans and has taken steps to make college more affordable while extending health care coverage to millions of Americans,” Loftus said.

As Obama continues his first year in office, Loftus expects him to focus on foreign policy and “repairing our frayed alliances” around the world.

Kirsten Kukowski, spokesperson for the Republican Party of Wisconsin, disagreed with Loftus.

“In a few short months, President Obama has racked up more spending and debt than anyone thought imaginable, leaked memos on interrogation techniques that has left our country less safe, and made a difficult economy worse with his extreme policies,” Kukowski said in an e-mail to The Badger Herald.

University of Wisconsin freshman Blake Henderson said he both agrees and disagrees with various aspects of the Obama presidency.

“I think what I value the most about him is his ability to examine issues from both perspectives, instead of solely doing what the Democratic Party thinks is good,” Henderson said.

Henderson added he is “slightly disappointed” that Obama has not followed through with some of his campaign promises.

UW freshman Patrick Reed also said he agreed with a majority of the president’s policies, saying he believes his “moderate approach” has been effective in accomplishing his policy goals.

In a similar poll conducted by The Associated Press and GfK Roper Public Affairs released Wednesday, respondents gave the president a 64 percent approval rating. A Gallup Poll, updated daily, gave the president a similar approval rating Thursday, with 65 percent of respondents saying they approved of Obama’s job thus far.