A record-high 78.9 percent of Japanese people harbor friendly feelings toward the United States, a government poll showed Saturday, signaling a positive response to U.S. President Barack Obama, who took office earlier this year.

The figure, up 5.6 percentage points from a year earlier, comes from a Cabinet Office survey conducted in mid- and late October, before relations between the two nations soured over the relocation of U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma in Okinawa Prefecture.

A government official declined to comment on whether the figure would change if the survey were conducted now, saying only that it reflected "people's high interest in President Obama."