The Underpinnings Of Donald Trump’s Approval Rating

Donald Trump begins his term in office with the the lowest job rating for a new president since polls started tracking presidential approval in the 1950s. And nearly all public polls, including SurveyMonkey’s national tracking, are already showing a slight downturn in Trump’s approval rating since his inauguration.

SurveyMonkey’s most recent national poll shows 46 percent of adults approve of the way Donald Trump is handling his job as president, and 52 percent disapprove, down from a 48 to 50 percent approve-disapprove rating in his first week.

Some of the initial down-tick may be a natural progression, as some who start out expressing a near-neutral opinion begin to harden their impressions in the very first days of a president’s term.

However, political science forecasters and other observers are already pondering the inevitable question, “how low can Donald Trump’s approval ratings go?”

One striking characteristic of Trump’s initial job rating is the relative intensity of disapproval. In our most recent full week of tracking, for example, far more Americans strongly disapprove of the way Trump is handling his job (41 percent) than strongly approve (29 percent). That gap means that Trump’s overall 46 percent approval rating includes 17 percent who only “somewhat approve” of his performance.

In the second week of the Trump presidency, we asked a national sample of adults to select from a list of personal characteristics and qualities and tell us which apply to President Trump. They could select “all that apply.”

Overall, the traits Americans apply most readily are “stands up for what he believes in,” (44 percent), “can get things done” (38 percent), and tough enough for the job“ (36 percent). At the opposite end of the spectrum, traits like ”honest and trustworthy“ (17 percent), ”shares your values“ (20 percent), ”inspires confidence“ (21 percent) and ”cares about people like you” (22 percent) received far fewer selections.

Of course, a significant number (41 percent) apply “none” of these positive qualities to Trump. Among Democrats and Americans who disapprove of Trump’s performance as president, few are willing to associate any positive traits to the new president.

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