Trump’s approval rating today is the lowest in the history of any president recently sworn into office. His 45 percent approval rating on inauguration day has slipped even further, dipping five percent more in less than a month.
According to the recent Gallup poll , the 45th president of the United States of America has struggled to find his footing even as he spends his first month in the White House. In data findings made available to the LA Times , 55 percent of Americans disapprove of President Trump’s achievements so far, while only 40 percent believe he has done well. The 15-point deficit is the highest ever recorded since Mr. Trump was sworn into the White House on January 20.
Poll: 40% of Americans approve of President Donald Trump’s job as president so far, compared to 55% who disapprove https://t.co/c3QEdwpUeu pic.twitter.com/3lmJDlstnU
— CNN Politics (@CNNPolitics) February 13, 2017
Trump’s approval rating today is a far cry of what it was in the second week of his presidency. The 70-year-old politician’s poll numbers were bouncing in the mid-to-low 40s range then. However, the recent poll numbers now suggest that a teeming number of Americans are impressed with the Republican president, especially after the chaotic aftermath of his travel ban. Pundits also believe that Trump’s cabinet confirmations have played a part as well.
The Gallup poll is based on telephone interviews and conducted over a three-day time period and revolves around a rolling average of 1,500 American adults daily. It reserves a margin of error of plus-or-minus three percentage points. Gallup has followed every U.S. president from 1936 . There is no president since the inception of the poll that has plummeted to a 50 percent disapproval rating so early into the presidency.
President Trump’s low rating zips past his predecessors Barack Obama, George W. Bush and Bill Clinton who all enjoyed thumbs-up ratings in the high 50s after Gallup tracking polls were conducted at the beginning of their tenures.
Trump has now nose-dived into territories occupied by the likes of Harry Truman and Richard Nixon. However, it is not all seemingly bad for Mr. Trump. The “blue-collar billionaire” still retains the core base of his supporters who see him as “strong and decisive” because he has kept a bulk of his campaign promises.
On the other hand, many Americans say their leader hardly sparks any forms of confidence, adding that Trump has done a shoddy job managing the government and suffers severe credibility issues. The views are unsurprisingly divided along party lines. Most of the positive views about the president are from Republicans while the negative ones are from mainly Democrats.
Besides his core supporters, President Trump’s strength also resides in Congress, particularly in the House where his popularity remains impressive in many congressional districts held by Republicans. But since Trump lost the majority vote by millions, it could eventually weaken his stance in the Senate where members campaign statewide.
‘Majority in Leading EU Nations Support Trump-Style Travel Ban’ Poll of more than 10,000 people in 10 countries… https://t.co/KWsIWhtC9o
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 8, 2017
Whether Trump’s approval rating today declines even further depends on Republicans and independents. If his core voters continue to support him, it will go a long way to determining the fate of midterm elections in 2018. Moreover, Trump’s approval rating serves as a good indicator of how many seats the Republican Party could lose midterm.
Some political analysts believe that President Trump has plenty of time to turn around his negative ratings and improve his standing with the general public. This might seem a herculean task because almost all the public polls point to a declining popularity of the president. The Rasmussen daily Presidential Tracking Poll on Friday revealed that the 70-year-old politician had an approval of 52 percent.
These figures may not be as dire as Gallup’s 40 percent, but the Rasmussen numbers are hardly encouraging as they show a seven-point slip from a 59 percent approval rating when the billionaire businessman was sworn in as president. Quinnipac revealed a 17-point plummet while YouGov points out that Trump’s approval rating today has been set back by 13 percentage points.
The president of the United States has dismissed his approval poll numbers as “fake news’ citing that they were wrong when they said he stood no chance against Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton and are wrong again.
[Featured Image by Manuel Balce Ceneta/AP Images]