U.S. President Barack Obama's approval rating jumped sharply following the announcement of the death of al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden, but how long this new honeymoon can last remains to be seen, a new poll showed Tuesday.

Overall, 56 percent of those polled say they approve of the way Obama is handling his job as president, an increase of nine percentage points over April's number, according to the poll conducted Monday evening by the Washington Post and the Pew Research Center.

That is the highest approval rating for the president in either the Post-ABC News poll or the Pew poll since 2009.

Americans give Obama higher marks on national security issues, with 60 percent approving the way he is dealing with Afghanistan and 69 percent endorsing his handling of the threat of terrorism.

But the poll found Obama only gets 40 percent approval when it comes to handling the economy, virtually flat compared to previous polls.

"That suggests that success on one front -- even one as important as the death of the mastermind of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks -- might not translate easily to other areas," the report said.