Washington, Mar.6 (ANI): A majority of Americans think President Barack Obama is meeting, if not exceeding, expectations, and keeping his campaign promises.

In addition, despite Obama's claim that he doesn't believe in bigger government, a new poll shows there is widespread belief among Americans that he does.

Fifty Six percent of those polled thinks the federal government is too big today. And by a 20-percentage point margin - 55 percent to 35 percent - the poll finds Americans would rather pay lower taxes and have a smaller government rather than pay higher taxes for larger government.

President Obama's job approval rating stands at 63 percent, with 26 percent saying they disapprove, according to the FOX News poll released Thursday.

Partisanship is clear in how people rate the president's performance, as a whopping 92 percent of Democrats say they approve - more than three times as many as the 30 percent of Republicans who give Obama the thumbs up. Among independents, 61 percent approve.

Just over half of Americans - 52 percent - think so far Obama is meeting expectations and 14 percent say he is actually exceeding expectations. The number of people who think Obama is falling below expectations has doubled from 11 percent in January to 23 percent today.

A large 90 percent majority of Democrats think Obama is meeting or exceeding expectations, up from 82 percent (13-14 January 2009).

All in all, 58 percent think Obama is keeping the promises he made during the campaign - more than twice the number who say he is drifting off course (28 percent).

Opinion Dynamics Corp. conducted the national telephone poll of 900 registered voters for FOX News from March 3 to March 4. The poll has a 3-point error margin. (ANI)