Obama Approval Rating Holds Up in CNN Poll Despite Scandals

President Barack Obama's approval rating appears to be unaffected by the recent series of scandals rocking the White House, with 53 percent of Americans still approving of the president's overall job performance in a recent CNN and ORC International poll.

In comparison, 45 percent of participants disapproved of the president's performance in the poll, which was taken May 17 and 18 and has a 3 percent margin of error.

Not only does the president appear to have weathered the storms of a possible Benghazi cover-up, IRS' targeting of conservative organizations, and the Department of Justice's secret seizure of Associated Press Phone Records, his approval rating appears to have actually increased over the past month.

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A CNN poll taken in early April showed Obama's approval rating at 51 percent.

The most recent CNN poll was not all good news for Democrats.

When asked if the Republican-led Congress was overreacting to the White House's handling of the terrorist attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi that left four dead Americans dead last September, 59 percent of participants said no.

Only 42 percent of those polled are satisfied with the way in which the Obama administration has handled the Benghazi, Libya attack. The numbers are virtually unchanged from November, CNN reports.

Additionally, 54 percent of Americans don't believe that Congress is overreacting to the IRS scrutiny of conservative groups. In comparison 42 percent feel the Congress has overreacted.

As for the DOJ's seizure of AP phone records, 52 percent of those polled felt they were unacceptable, while 43 percent felt otherwise.

"More Republicans than Democrats or Independents say these three issues are very important to the nation, but even among Democrats, nearly half say the matters are very serious," CNN Polling Director Keating Holland said.

"That two-point difference is well within the poll's sampling error, so it is a mistake to characterize it as a gain for the president," added Holland. "Nonetheless, an approval rating that has not dropped and remains over 50% will probably be taken as good news by Democrats after the events of the last week."

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Despite the seemingly favorable numbers for Obama in light of the recent scandals, the majority of Americans take each of the three scandals very seriously.

Fifty five percent of Americans say the IRS and Benghazi matters are very important to the nation, and 53 percent feeling the same about the AP situation, CNN reported.