President Donald Trump’s popularity has taken a major hit lately.
In a brand new Gallup poll released Monday, Trump’s approval rating has plummeted to 36 percent. For context, the lowest approval rating of President Obama’s eight year tenure in the White House was 38 percent.
Trump’s popularity took a massive hit last week as he began to publicly support the wildly unpopular healthcare bill that many are calling “RyanCare.”
According to the Gallup poll, House Speaker Paul Ryan’s American Health Care Act (AHCA) was polling at around 17 percent before he was forced to pull the bill.
Trump’s approvals were also affected when more allegations came to light over alleged campaign ties to Russia, including an announcement from FBI Director James Comey that there was a pending investigation into whether or not any of his associates colluded with Russian agents to influence the 2016 presidential election.
Here are Trump’s approval/disapproval ratings from Gallup:
Just after Trump’s Inauguration Day on Jan. 20, his approval ratings were around 44 percent. After supporting Paul Ryan’s healthcare bill and the FBI admitting they are still investigating possible ties to Russia, his approval/disapproval rating now stands at 36 to 57.
While Trump’s presidency is still in its infancy, his approvals are historically very low for his first year as president.
Bill Clinton’s all-time low was 37 percent, spawning from the Whitewater scandal in his first year in office; Gerald Ford hit a low of 37 percent, and Dwight D. Eisenhower never dipped below 48 percent.
While Trump’s low approvals are sad, they aren’t unprecedented. During the Iraq war, George W. Bush sank to 25 percent; Jimmy Carter fell to 28 percent, and Richard Nixon dropped to 24 percent just while impeachment charges were being tossed around.
Even Ronald Reagan hit 35 percent in 1983 while fighting to rebuild a sluggish economy — one point below Trump’s current approval rating — so there’s still plenty of time for Trump to restore his image with the public and do great things.
The key for Trump is to deliver on the promises that got him elected. His approvals show that when he fails to deliver, he takes a hit. That will be crucial to watch over the next four years.
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