Don't look now, but President Obama's popularity is going back up.

In fact, the Gallup people report that Obama's approval rating is back at 50%, its highest level in seven months.

"Obama's approval rating has been in the mid-40% range for much of the latter half of 2010," Gallup reported. "He last hit 50% approval in a three-day average near the end of May/beginning of June."

Gallup also noted that "it is not yet clear if Obama's approval rating will stay above 50% in the coming days" and that "the current 50% average over the last three days could reflect a temporary increase in optimism that Gallup sometimes sees at the beginning of a new year."

The report added:

The latest numbers also come at a time when the president was on vacation in Hawaii and out of the political spotlight, following a highly publicized pre-Christmas session with Congress that resulted in the passage of several major pieces of legislation.

The president's popularity is also party driven:

Obama's current approval rating is 80% among Democrats, 47% among independents, and 16% among Republicans in the three most recent days of polling. The figures for independents and Republicans are slightly higher than what Gallup has measured for Obama in recent weeks.

(Posted by David Jackson)