President Obama‘s approval rating is soaring, his disapproval level is dropping, both to levels not seen since his first year in office, 2009, and all this while the GOP is threatening to take the country over the so-called “fiscal cliff.” The President today enjoys a 54% approval rating, and a 38% disapproval rating, according to Gallup’s Daily Tracking Poll.

Meanwhile, Bloomberg reports that “President Barack Obama won the public argument over taxes so decisively that almost half of Republicans now say he has an election mandate to raise rates on the rich.

Majorities of about 2-to-1 also read the election results as an endorsement of Obama’s pledge to protect Social Security and Medicare benefits, according to a Bloomberg National Poll of 1,000 adults conducted Dec. 7-10.

Of course, the GOP is in continual denial.