Washington poll poll results

The latest Washington Post-ABC News poll confirms Donald Trump’s status as the front-runner for the Republican presidential nomination. It confirms that Ben Carson is a surging runner-up who is gaining on the Big Apple billionaire. And it confirms that Sen. Bernie Sanders is gaining on Hillary Clinton. But no one has mentioned the good news the survey holds for President Obama.

The president’s job approval sits at 49 percent. That’s four points higher than the last poll in July. It is the highest it has been since January when 50 percent of the country gave Obama a thumbs up. Even approval of his handling of the economy ticked up two points to 49 percent since July.

While these results are good for the president, they are also good for the Democratic candidates hoping to succeed him. Far easier to embrace a sitting president of your own party than it is to hold him at arm’s length.

Being able to stand with Obama is vital as the candidates try to hold the Obama coalition of people of color, young people and women together without him on the ballot in 2016. And embracing the president is especially vital as the candidates court African American voters. Not only are they the base of the base of the Democratic Party, but they are also fiercely loyal to the nation’s first black president.

Luckily for the Democratic candidates, their loyalty to the man they want to replace in the Oval Office is not an issue right now.