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Trump's Approval Ratings During His First 100 Days Aren't So Hot

by Chris Tognotti
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It's becoming clear that President Donald Trump is sweating the reviews of his first 100 days in office. He made that fact very plain in an April 21 tweet, accusing the media of getting ready to "kill" regardless of "how much I accomplish during the ridiculous standard of the first 100 days." It wasn't exactly a confident tone, to say the least. Although in fairness, when you take a look at Trump's approval ratings from throughout his first 100 days, it's easy to see why he's already feeling the heat.

According to Gallup's daily tracking poll, Trump's approval rating stood at just a 41 percent average during his first quarter as president. That's a historically low-mark ― no president, according to Gallup, has ever had an underwater approval rating after the first quarter of a presidency, and the second-lowest on record, Bill Clinton, still finished at 55 percent.

That means Trump finished the first quarter of his first term as president a full 14 points lower than what was previously the worst on record. By way of contrast, former president Barack Obama's average first-quarter job approval rating sat at a robust 63 percent, which puts him a full 22 points above Trump.

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Here are the historical approval ratings after the first 100 days, according to the University of Santa Barbara's American Presidency Project. The numbers date back to the first term of former president Dwight D. Eisenhower, who took office in January 1953.

  • Dwight D. Eisenhower: 73 percent approve, 10 percent disapprove, 17 percent no opinion
  • John F. Kennedy: 83 percent approve, 5 percent disapprove, 12 percent no opinion
  • Richard Nixon: 62 percent approve, 15 percent disapprove, 23 percent no opinion
  • Jimmy Carter: 63 percent approve, 18 percent disapprove, 19 percent no opinion
  • Ronald Reagan: 68 percent approve, 21 percent disapprove, 11 percent no opinion
  • George H.W. Bush: 56 percent approve, 22 percent disapprove, 22 percent no opinion
  • William J. Clinton: 55 percent approve, 37 percent disapprove, 8 percent no opinion
  • George W. Bush: 62 percent approve, 29 percent disapprove, 9 percent no opinion
  • Barack Obama: 65 percent approve, 29 percent disapprove, 6 percent no opinion

For what it's worth, things could've been even worse for Trump than they ended up being ― he did finish the first 100 days above his lowest-ever approval rating according to Gallup, and indeed, the lowest ever recorded so early in a president's first term. That came in late March, when his approve/disapprove numbers bottomed out at 35/59. He hasn't approached such a low figure since, although given how the first few months went, it's anybody's guess what the future will hold.