A group of South Africans surveyed gave the thumbs up to Barack Obama as US president, according to the research results released on Tuesday.

Eighty one percent of people interviewed agreed with the statement: "You think that it is a good thing that Barack Obama has become the new president of the United States", TNS Research Surveys said.

Six percent disagreed with the statement and 18 percent said they don't know.

In a similar survey in February this year, a group of South Africans were asked whether they thought Jacob Zuma would do a good job as president of the country. Forty percent said yes.

When asked whether President Kgalema Motlanthe was doing a good job as president of the country, 41 percent said yes.

Former president Thabo Mbeki's early readings were in the low 30s, rising to 66 percent in 2004 and 2005, before dropping to the low 30s again at the end of his term.

For the survey 2000 South African adults from the seven major metropolitan areas were interviewed in February.