Polls: Trump approaches 100 days with lowest job approval rating in more than 70 years
Six days before marking his first 100 days in office, President Trump has the lowest approval rating of any president in more than 70 years, a pair of polls published Sunday found.
According to a new ABC News/Washington Post poll, just 42 percent of Americans approve of Trump’s performance as president, while 53 percent disapprove. Nearly 70 percent of Americans approved of the job Barack Obama was doing at the same point in his presidency, while just 26 percent disapproved. On average, past presidents have enjoyed a 69 percent approval, 19 percent disapproval split at or near their first 100-day mark, according to the survey.
Not Trump. According to a new NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll, nearly two-thirds of Americans (64 percent) give Trump “poor or middling marks for his first 100 days in office” — including 45 percent who say he’s off to a “poor start.”
In 2009, by contrast, 54 percent of Americans said that Barack Obama’s first 100 days had gotten off to either a good or great start, compared with 46 percent who said fair or poor.
The survey shows Trump’s overall job-approval rating at 40 percent as he approaches 100 days — the lowest job-approval rating for a new president at this point in the history of the NBC/WSJ poll.
The net disapproval of Trump’s job as president appears to stem from feelings about his judgment and temperament. According to the ABC/Washington Post poll, 58 percent say he lacks honesty and trustworthiness — the same percentage that see him as out of touch — while 59 percent say he lacks the temperament for the job and 61 percent say he lacks empathy.
The survey found one aspect of the job in which Trump is enjoying broad support: 73 percent approve of his pressuring companies to keep jobs in the United States. (That number includes “most Democrats, liberals and nonwhites … three groups that are broadly critical of Trump more generally,” per the poll.) A slim majority (53 percent) say Trump is a “strong leader,” compared with 45 percent who say he is not.
Trump’s supporters are overwhelmingly steadfast and loyal in their support. The ABC/WaPo survey found that a whopping 96 percent of those who voted for Trump in November say they have no regrets and would vote for him again.
Which is one reason why Trump continues to hold campaign-style rallies more than 3 1/2 years away from the next election.
On Saturday, April 29, Trump announced that he will mark his 100th day in office with “a BIG rally” in Pennsylvania, on the same date as the annual White House Correspondents’ Association dinner — an event Trump has said he will not attend.
Late Sunday, Trump tweeted his reaction to the newly-released polls, saying that they “are very good considering that much of the media is FAKE and almost always negative.”
Trump also falsely claimed that the ABC/Washington Post poll proved he would “still” beat Hillary Clinton in the popular vote if the election were held today.
New polls out today are very good considering that much of the media is FAKE and almost always negative. Would still beat Hillary in …..
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 23, 2017
…popular vote. ABC News/Washington Post Poll (wrong big on election) said almost all stand by their vote on me & 53% said strong leader.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 23, 2017
Trump never won the popular vote. Clinton won the popular vote by nearly 3 million more votes overall, finishing with 65,844,610 (48.2 percent) compared to Trump’s 62,979,636 (46.1 percent).
The ABC/Washington Post survey suggested that because fewer Clinton voters (85 percent) said they would vote for her than Trump voters (96 percent) would for him, it would result in an overall Trump victory (43 percent to 40 percent) over Clinton in a “hypothetical re-do.”
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