US President Donald Trump has set a new record low for second quarter job approval rating, becoming the least popular president early in a White House term since World War ll, according to a new poll.
Trump averaged 38.8 percent job approval during his second quarter in office, which spanned from April 20 through July 19, Gallup’s daily tracking average shows.
No other president has had a worse second-quarter average approval since Gallup began assessing approval ratings in 1945.
Former US President Bill Clinton’s second quarter approval rating was 44 percent, the only other president aside from Trump whose approval fell below 50 percent early in his administration.
The average approval rating for US presidents in their second quarter is 62 percent, meaning Trump's support is 23 percentage points below the historical norm, Gallup said.
Most presidents were still in the honeymoon stage of their terms during their second quarter, and enjoyed approval ratings above 60 percent, with former presidents John F. Kennedy and Dwight Eisenhower both above 70 percent, Gallup said.
Former presidents Harry Truman, Richard Nixon, Jimmy Carter and George W. Bush had worse presidential quarters near the end of their troubled administrations.
From a broader historical perspective, only 12 percent of presidential quarters have been worse than Trump’s second quarter approval rating.
Trump's second-quarter average is down from 41 percent during his first quarter, which was also well below what any other president had in his first quarter.
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Another poll released last week from ABC News/Washington Post put Trump's approval at a new low of 36 percent.
Surveys show most Americans disapprove of Trump’s policies and personal character and are losing faith in his ability to accomplish his campaign promises.
America’s standing in the world has also deteriorated sharply under Trump and many of his key policies are broadly unpopular around the globe, according to a survey released last month by the Pew Research Center.