Trump has lowest approval rating for any president in recent history

The number of people who have confidence in Donald Trump to do the job has plummeted, according to a new CNN/ORC poll.

Jan 17, 2017

On Friday, Donald Trump will become the next President of the United States, but already, the number of people who have confidence in him to do the job has plummeted, according to a new CNN/ORC poll.

Trump will be taking office with a 40 percent approval rating, which is the lowest of any recent president for the start of his term. By contrast, Barack Obama took office with an approval rating of 84 percent, George W. Bush had a 61 percent rating, and Bill Clinton had a 62 percent rating.

The poll also shows that Trump’s handling of the transition into the White House has negatively impacted his approval ratings. Fifty-three percent of people polled said that the president-elects actions since Election Day have made them less confident in his ability to handle the presidency.

Additionally, the public is evenly split on whether or not Trump will be a good president, with 48 percent of people saying he will and 48 percent saying he will not.

The only place where Trump’s numbers stayed high was in public confidence about some of his campaign promises. 71 percent say he will impose tariffs on companies that manufacture goods in Mexico, 61 percent say he will renegotiate NAFTA, and 61 percent say he will create good-paying jobs in economically challenged areas.

As for his most high-profile campaign promise, though, only 44 percent of people actually believe that the wall between the United States and Mexico is going up.