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Barack Obama still has a lot of work to overcome the Republican victories in the spin war during the first two years of his presidency, but he appears to be on track towards rebuilding the coalition which elected him. This rebound is seen in the national polls and in several state polls, such as this recent poll out of Iowa:

President Barack Obama’s approval has rebounded some across political boundaries Iowa, according to The Des Moines Register’s new Iowa Poll, reflecting a national trend for the Democrat beginning to construct his re-election campaign plan.

Obama’s overall 48 percent approval is his highest in more than a year and his 47 percent disapproval is a few points better than in September. The glimmer comes as independent voters, who helped him carry the state in 2008 but had since dropped off, have warmed to him again over the past year…

In Iowa, Obama improved with political independents to 46 percent, up 4 points since September and 8 points since February.

He also made gains with Democrats and Republicans, but the gap between Democrats and Republicans who support him was 70 percentage points.

A national Gallup Poll taken the same week as the Iowa Poll showed 48 percent approved of Obama, and 43 percent disapproved.

Iowa’s numbers echo the national trend that has shown Obama improving since the 2010 elections, said Paul Harstad, a national Democratic pollster who advises Obama and has been a consultant to Iowa Sen. Tom Harkin.”They are consistent with national surveys, which show the president probably having bottomed out, and that he’s making modest progress in picking up support,” Harstad said.

Obama’s new approval rating in Iowa marks an uptick from 45 percent in September, and represents his first increase since taking office in 2009, when 68 percent of Iowans approved of the new president.