Nearly half of Americans say Trump administration is doing ‘worst job of governing in their lifetimes’
Just 19 per cent say government is doing a "good job" under Donald Trump
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Louise Thomas
Editor
Donald Trump’s presidency has been marked by historically low approval ratings and other grim polls — but the latest figures might be his most damning yet.
While nearly seven in 10 Americans said the federal government is not doing a good job of governing under Mr Trump in the latest survey, a whopping 43 per cent of respondents said it’s the worst governance they have experienced in their lifetimes.
Only 19 per cent of those surveyed said the federal government was doing a “good job” of governing.
That’s according to a new CNN poll conducted by SSRS and published on Monday, providing insight on US attitudes towards the president and federal government a day before Mr Trump is scheduled to provide his State of the Union address.
The poll also surveyed Americans on their thoughts surrounding the recent federal government shutdown and whether they believed negotiations between lawmakers would prevent another from occurring at the end of a three-week deadline.
The majority of those surveyed said they did not believe an agreement would be reached in time, with 64 per cent saying negotiations would not yield a compromise by the deadline.
Meanwhile, the president’s approval rating has hovered at 40 per cent, while his disapproval rating stands at 55 per cent in the latest polling.
A majority of Americans also opposed the president’s handling of immigration, the CNN poll said.
The new figures arrived a week after the end of the longest government shutdown in US history, triggered by Mr Trump’s demands for $5.7bn to be included in the next federal spending bill towards building a wall along the US-Mexico border.
He has refused to take another shutdown off the table if lawmakers are unable to reach a compromise he supports, and has warned he may even declare a national emergency in order to build the wall — a move that would likely face a lengthy legal battle.
If Mr Trump refuses to support a bipartisan agreement and allows for another shutdown, it does not appear the numbers are in his favour: 53 per cent of Americans said they support legislation that would prevent future shutdowns from ever happening again, according to the poll.
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