Isn't his approval rating one of the worst in history?

and the more Americans have positive view of economic conditions now than at any point since before 9/11 so I know which metric I would look at

Have you heard of Nixon?

Obviously she hadn't done an indepth presidential study her statement is not literal you understand ...more metaphorical, lol .

You don't have to only look at one of the metrics, you can look at both. Feeling that the economy has improved doesn't necessarily mean that they think he's doing a good job overall or that they approve of him. They can strongly disapprove of him (which the approval ratings show that they do - to a historically bad extent) but still feel satisfied with one aspect of his presidency.