U.S. President Barack Obama’s overall job approval rating edged up to its highest level in more than a year, but a majority of the public is still unsatisfied with his handling of the economy and the federal deficit, according to a new CNN poll.

Fifty-five percent of people questioned in the poll say they approve of how Obama’s handling his duties in the White House, with 44 percent saying they disapprove, CNN said on Monday, a day before the president delivers his second State of the Union address.

“The 55 percent figure is seven points higher than in December and 13 points higher than his September mark,” says CNN Polling Director Keating Holland. “The president’s approval rating has not been this high since November of 2009 in CNN polling.”

However, most Americans are still unsatisfied with Obama’s handling of the economy and the federal deficit, two issues that are expected to dominate his Tuesday address.

Six in ten disapprove of how Obama is handling the deficit; 55 percent don’t like his record on healthcare and 54 percent disapprove of his economic policies.

The White House credited the president’s higher approval rating to the productive lame-duck session of Congress, when Obama managed to broker bipartisan deals on major pieces of legislation including extending the Bush-era tax cuts.

“The message that the American people had delivered in the ( midterm) election was that both sides have a stake in governing this country and both sides should put aside politics and game- playing to sit down and try to solve the biggest, most vexing problems that we have,” White House spokesman Robert Gibbs told reporters on Monday.

“I think the American people saw two groups sitting down at a big table and figuring out how to solve our problems,” Gibbs said. “And I think because of that people have reacted positively to the progress that has been made — and not just the overall impact of it, but how we went about doing it.”