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Since Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu arrived in the U.S., President Obama’s approval rating has increased by 5 points in the Gallup poll.

From February 26-28, President Obama’s approval rating was 44% in the Gallup Daily Tracking Poll. The president’s disapproval rating was 51%. Once Netanyahu’s arrived in the United States, President Obama’s approval rating jumped to 49%, and his disapproval rating fell to 47%.

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There were signs that the Republican handling of the Netanyahu invitation was not playing well with many Americans. An NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll released yesterday found that by a margin of 48%-30%, registered voters said that John Boehner should have talked to President Obama before inviting Netanyahu.

A February 17, CNN poll found overwhelming opposition to the way that Speaker Boehner handled the invitation. Sixty-three percent of respondents felt that it was a bad move for Boehner to invite Netanyahu without giving Obama a head’s up, and only 52% of Republicans supported Boehner not notifying Obama first before inviting Netanyahu.

The Netanyahu speech has not worked out the way that Republicans had hoped it would. Speaker Boehner invited Netanyahu as a power play that was designed to get congressional Republicans back on track after a disastrous first few months in the majority. It appears that the speech has done the exact opposite.

Instead of making Obama look weak, the Republican behavior has helped to solidify some support behind the president. Bringing in the leader of a foreign country, even one with such broad support as Israel, to attack the President Of The United States doesn’t appear to sit well with many Americans.

The intensity of the Republican dislike of this president will always hold down his poll numbers, but the last thing that Republicans expected when they invited Netanyahu to speak is that his presence in the U.S. would boost the president’s popularity.

The Netanyahu speech is quickly becoming another Republican attempt to humiliate this president that is blowing up in their faces.