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How unpopular has President Donald Trump become? This chart shows just how much

Former reality TV star has record low approval ratings, says pollster

Harriet Agerholm
Tuesday 21 February 2017 16:35 GMT
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Issues with Russia have plagued the Republican
Issues with Russia have plagued the Republican (Getty)

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Donald Trump has said his administration was running like a "fine tuned machine", but after a tumultuous first month in office, it appears there are a few spanners in the works.

The US President has so far battled the courts over a controversial immigration order; seen his national security adviser forced to resign; and waged war on the media and intelligence community.

And such controversy may not have gone unnoticed. This chart by Statista for The Independent shows just how far Mr Trump's popularity ratings have sunk:

Barack Obama and George W Bush had approval ratings more than 20 per cent higher than former reality TV star
Barack Obama and George W Bush had approval ratings more than 20 per cent higher than former reality TV star (Statista)

It recently emerged the former reality TV star was less popular after his first four weeks than any President before him, according to data collected by respected pollster Gallup.

Most Presidents enjoy a spike in popularity at the beginning of their term, but Mr Trump's 41 per cent approval rating is far below the average 61 per cent

On taking office, the bombastic billionaire also had a record low approval rating of 45 per cent. He was the first president to enter the White House with less than majority approval.

Yet he is not the first leader to see his ratings slide during his first month in the job.

Bill Clinton and Mr Obama’s approval also declined significantly during their first four weeks with Mr Clinton’s seven-point drop representing the biggest fall on Gallup record.

According to another survey by the pollster, Mr Trump is still managing to hold on to Republican support. His approval rating is four points higher than the 83 per cent average for previous presidents one month into their presidency, despite his overall approval among Republicans falling three points since his inauguration.

These results cannot be regarded as definitive, since there is variation among pollsters.

Rasmussen's Daily Tracking poll – which often finds Republicans have a high favourability score – recently claimed Mr Trump had an approval rating of 55 per cent, while the Pew Research Centre has said the property mogul had an approval rating of 38 percent.

But still, Mr Trump's disapproval rating of 55 per cent far outweighs the presidents that came before him, according to Gallup.

Mr Trump is unlikely to take the results to heart, however: earlier in February he announced "any negative polls are fake news".

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