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Donald Trump has worst poll approval rating at 100 days than any President since 1945

Mr Trump had previously dismissed a negative CNN poll as ‘fake news’: AFP/Getty
Mr Trump had previously dismissed a negative CNN poll as ‘fake news’: AFP/Getty

As Donald Trump approaches his 100th day in the White House, the Republican is suffering the lowest approval ratings of any President since 1945.

Compared with his Democrat and Republican predecessors since the Second World War, no President has dipped as low so early on in their first term as Mr Trump, who has an approval rating of 42 per cent.

When Barack Obama was approaching his first 100 days, he had 69 per cent approval, exactly the same as the average approval rating for past Presidents at this stage in their first term.

Business tycoon Mr Trump also has significant challenges ahead. While six in 10 people surveyed doubt his honesty and trustworthiness, and see him out of touch with their problems, more than half of Americans (56 per cent) believe he has not achieved a lot in his first 100 days.

The first 100 days is normally seen as a President’s honeymoon period. Although Mr Trump’s low rating at 100 days is significant, it is not necessarily predictive of his ratings for the rest of his time in office or whether he will win a second term.

The ABC News / Washington Post poll, conducted between 17 and 20 April among a random, national sample of 1,004 adults, found that 96 per cent of Trump supporters who voted for him in November would do so again today.

The figures were compiled after the President failed to push through a replacement for Obamacare – a key campaign pledge – and he declined to investigate former rival Hillary Clinton for allegedly misusing her personal email server, as well as admitting that the US would have to pay about $20bn (£16bn) for the wall along the Mexican border.

He has also refused to release his tax returns, despite half of his own supporters demanding to see them, according to a separate poll.

His voter base, leaning towards white, non-college educated men, remains intact, the data showed, with Mr Trump’s popularity much lower among women and people of colour.

The survey also found that if another election was held today, he could possibly win the popular vote among the same 2016 voters – whereas last November Ms Clinton won the popular vote by more than three million – as fewer people said they would vote for Ms Clinton a second time around.

Relief is found for the President in areas such as employment – his badgering of US companies to stay in the country is supported by most groups – and foreign policy. Mr Trump was supported by more than half of those surveyed when he launched 59 Tomahawk missiles at a Syrian air base – despite Syrian planes still taking off from the base within hours of the attack – and almost half of those polled supported his stance against North Korea.

He also benefits from a strong decline in trust for the opposing party. The same survey found that 67 per cent believe the Democrat Party is out of touch with the concerns of most Americans, a 19 per cent fall in three years.

But some of his most unpopular decisions are clear.

Only 34 per cent approve of his daughter, Ivanka Trump, and his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, having senior roles within the administration.

A slightly higher number – 37 per cent – approve of his changes to federal spending, which saw slashes at many departments including cutting all funding for the United Nations Population Fund, which supports women and children all over the world.

The survey, which has a margin of error of 3.5 points, comes after a Gallup poll found that Mr Trump’s approval ratings dropped to an all-time low of 35 per cent in late March.