Trump’s approval ratings sink further

WASHINGTON: Buffeted by the Russia probe, perception of a declining world role and a stalled domestic agenda, US President Donald Trump’s approval rating has hit a new low, according to a new poll.

In the ABC-Washington Post poll conducted this month, Trump’s approval rating plunged to 36% from 42% in April — the lowest for any president in recent history. Meanwhile, his disapproval numbers rose to 58%, with an overall 48% of respondents saying they “strongly disapproved” of his performance.

Almost half of the respondents said they felt their country’s leadership of the world had declined on Trump’s watch, and just over a third of them said they trusted him in foreign negotiations.

This level of unpopularity was never reached by preceding presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama,andGeorgeWBushcame somewhat close only in his second term. The last president to match Trump’s ratings was Gerald Ford at 39% in 1975.

Trump, who is known to keep a close eye on polls, responded with predictable scorn, tweeting that the ABC-Washington Post polls were “just about the most inaccu- rate poll around election time”.

However, there was a big positive for Trump in the poll — 43% of the respondents marked him positively on the performance of the economy on his watch, to 41% negatives. The stock market has indeed been doing well and jobs numbers are beginning to look good, thanks in no small measure to continued improvement in the economy that started during Obama’s term.