Trump’s approval rating at lowest point of presidency

Washington :  US President Donald Trump’s approval rating in a new CNN poll stands at 35 per cent, down five points over the last month to match his lowest level yet, the media reported.

The slide follows dip in approval for the President in January, a finding that appeared connected to a bullish stock market and strong reviews for the economy, the poll revealed on Sunday.

His new rating matches a December poll, which marked his lowest approval rating in CNN polling since taking office in January 2017.

The President also earned his lowest rating yet among Republicans, though he was still viewed positively among his own partisans.

Overall, 80 per cent of self-identified Republicans have said they approveed of the President, one point below his previous low mark of 81 per cemt, hit in late September of last year.

Just 13 per cent of Republicans said they disapproved of the President’s performance.

Approval Trump stood at just 5 per cent among Democrats and 35 per cent among independents, the CNN poll showed.

While the survey was being conducted, much of the President’s public agenda focused on gun laws, an area where the poll found Trump earning mostly negative reviews.

Just a third of Americans approved of his handling of gun policy, 54 per cent disapproved and another 12 per cent said they were yet to make up their minds.

Those who live in gun-owning households gave him higher ratings than others: 52 per cent in gun households approved of his work on gun policy.

Trump’s approval ratings continued to lag behind those of previous presidents measured at the same point in their time in office, according to the CNN poll.

His current rating stood 12 points behind the previous low mark of 47 per cent set by both Ronald Reagan at this point in 1982 and by Jimmy Carter in early 1978.

Trump’s predecessor Barack Obama was the only other modern President to hold an approval rating below 50 per cent at this point in his presidency (49 per cent approved).

The CNN Poll was conducted between February 20-23 among a random national sample of 1,016 adults reached on landlines or cellphones by a live interviewer.

IANS