Trump Has Lowest Ever Approval Rating Going Into Office

As he prepares to move into the White House, Donald Trump has the lowest approval rating of any president during a transition period since polls first started measuring public opinion on the topic.

A Gallup poll conducted between Jan. 4-8, just two weeks before the president-elect’s inauguration, found that Trump’s approval rating is at only 44 percent, while 51 percent of respondents disapprove of him. His score has dropped since the last poll from early December 2016, which found that he had an even split with 48 percent approval and disapproval each.

In the 25 years that Gallup has been performing this poll, Trump scored lower than any other president elect by a long shot. The previous lowest score was 61 percent approval and 25 percent disapproval for George W. Bush in January 2001, followed by Bill Clinton’s 62 percent approval and 14 percent disapproval rating in November 1992. Barack Obama retains the highest score, with 83 percent approval and 12 percent disapproval in January 2009.

After building bridges with politicians who opposed him during his campaign, claiming that he is working to keep manufacturing jobs from leaving the United States, and appointing former generals to his cabinet at a time when the United States has a largely positive view of the military, Trump has a high rating among Republicans; 87 percent approve of the transition, though only 13 percent of Democrats agree that Trump and his team are doing a good job. A third of independents approve, down from 46 percent in December.

But despite his low ratings, Americans are looking to Trump to see him implement major changes and lead the country in a different direction than President Obama has in the last eight years. According to a Huffington Post poll, half of Americans said that they would like to see Trump move in a new direction, while 31 percent said that they would like to see the president-elect continue Obama’s policies.

Obama leaves office with a 55 percent approval rating, much higher than the one that Trump enters office with.

Sources: Gallup, Huffington Post / Photo Credit: Gage Skidmore/Flickr