COLUMBIA (WACH) - Governor Nikki Haley's approval rating is up according to the results of the latest Winthrop Poll.

Haley's approval was up almost 5 points, but still below 50% increasing from about 39% approval in December to over 43% in Wednesday's results.

More than half of the respondents (52%) think their financial situation is improving and the same amount think the economic conditions in South Carolina are getting better.

When it comes to the United States, the population was split with 48 percent saying the nation's economy is getting better and 46 percent saying it is getting worse.

Approximately 37 percent of the population rate the condition of the national economy as fairly bad with 55 percent of the population saying the country is heading in the wrong direction.

The poll also indicated that President Barack Obama's approval rating held steady from the December poll at 48 percent, which is four percentage points lower than his national approval rating of 52 percent reported by Gallop National Poll on Feb. 17.

The survey, which asked a variety of political and lifestyle questions, was in the field from Feb. 9 through Feb. 17. Results were compiled from 1,038 responsents living in South Carolina.

The poll has a margin of error of approximately +/- 3.1% at the 95% confidence level.