Poll: Barack Obama Ratings Leap After Osama bin Laden Is Dispatched, but They May Not Last

President Barack Obama's approval rating jumped a bunch in the immediate aftermath of the targeted killing of Osama bin Laden, according to a poll conducted Monday evening. But when it comes to handling the economy or satisfaction in the direction of the country, his approval is neither rising nor falling.

The Washington Post and the Pew Research Center poll finds that overall, 56 percent of those polled say they approve of the way Obama is handling his job as president, an increase of 9 percentage points over April polls by Post-ABC News and Pew. That is the highest approval rating for the president in either poll since 2009 and likely has much to do with the death of the mastermind of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks.

More than three-quarters of all Americans say the president deserves the credit for bin Laden's death. But some 81 percent of Republicans say George W. Bush deserves at least some of the credit. The real bipartisan agreement for congratulations in the Sunday raid in Pakistan goes to the American military, according to the poll.

Poll analysts offer up a reminder that Obama's improved rating could be short-lived. His 9-point boost is similar to the 6-point boost Bush enjoyed in the weeks following the capture of Saddam Hussein in Iraq in December 2003. All of Bush's 6 points disappeared within six weeks.