# Trump has lowest approval ratings of any \[new\] president in history of polling **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [January 25, 2017, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-has-lowest-approval-ratings-of-any-new-president-in-history-of-polling/778107 "2017-01-25T01:55:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Trancephalic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trancephalic/32/380_2.png) [@Trancephalic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trancephalic)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2017, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-has-lowest-approval-ratings-of-any-new-president-in-history-of-polling/778107/21 "2017-01-26T01:18:01Z")
The world could be reduced to irradiated cinders, and it’d still be better than if Hillary won. _ **Somehow** _ ---
**Author:** ![Omg\_a\_Black\_Conservative](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/7ba0ec/32.png) [@Omg\_a\_Black\_Conservative](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omg_a_Black_Conservative)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2017, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-has-lowest-approval-ratings-of-any-new-president-in-history-of-polling/778107/22 "2017-01-26T16:54:36Z")
> [@Lemur866](#): > > Except Hillary didn’t win. The scary lady can’t hurt you anymore, OMG. Show us on the doll where she touched you. Yes, I realize she didn’t win. My point, which you understood, is that this is a non-story. Regardless of who won this election, they’d have the lowest incoming approval rating for any president. I highly doubt this thread would have popped up if Hillary won. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2017, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-has-lowest-approval-ratings-of-any-new-president-in-history-of-polling/778107/23 "2017-01-26T16:59:56Z")
> [@Omg\_a\_Black\_Conservative](#): > > Yes, I realize she didn’t win. My point, which you understood, is that this is a non-story. Regardless of who won this election, they’d have the lowest incoming approval rating for any president. I highly doubt this thread would have popped up if Hillary won. I’m sure you or one of your comrades would have started one. ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Economist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/c89c15/32.png) [@Evil\_Economist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Economist)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2017, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-has-lowest-approval-ratings-of-any-new-president-in-history-of-polling/778107/24 "2017-01-26T17:30:09Z")
> [@Omg\_a\_Black\_Conservative](#): > > Yes, I realize she didn’t win. My point, which you understood, is that this is a non-story. Regardless of who won this election, they’d have the lowest incoming approval rating for any president. I highly doubt this thread would have popped up if Hillary won. W was a more divisive figure than Hilary. And he lost the popular vote. And he only had a 25% disapproval rating. So, no, she wouldn’t have had the lowest approval rating in history. Trump is unique. ---
**Author:** ![Rigamarole](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/77aa72/32.png) [@Rigamarole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rigamarole)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2017, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-has-lowest-approval-ratings-of-any-new-president-in-history-of-polling/778107/25 "2017-01-26T17:55:38Z")
Well after this election, we know how credible polling is. ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Economist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/c89c15/32.png) [@Evil\_Economist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Economist)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2017, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-has-lowest-approval-ratings-of-any-new-president-in-history-of-polling/778107/26 "2017-01-26T18:33:42Z")
> [@Rigamarole](#): > > Well after this election, we know how credible polling is. I was following 538 pretty closely during the election. They had Trump with a fairly good chance of winning. They also gave him a fairly good chance of losing the popular vote but winning the electoral vote, which is what actually happened. I’d say polling worked pretty well, it’s just that people had a lot of trouble believing the polls because they didn’t believe anyone would actually vote for Trump. But that’s not really a polling problem. ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2017, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-has-lowest-approval-ratings-of-any-new-president-in-history-of-polling/778107/27 "2017-01-26T18:40:28Z")
> [@Omg\_a\_Black\_Conservative](#): > > Yes, I realize she didn’t win. My point, which you understood, is that this is a non-story. Regardless of who won this election, they’d have the lowest incoming approval rating for any president. I highly doubt this thread would have popped up if Hillary won. If it had, I’m highly confident you’d be here making the same “non-story” objection. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2017, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-has-lowest-approval-ratings-of-any-new-president-in-history-of-polling/778107/28 "2017-01-26T19:14:45Z")
> [@Evil\_Economist](#): > > W was a more divisive figure than Hilary. No, he wasn’t. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Economist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/c89c15/32.png) [@Evil\_Economist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Economist)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2017, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-has-lowest-approval-ratings-of-any-new-president-in-history-of-polling/778107/29 "2017-01-26T20:33:56Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > No, he wasn’t. > > Regards, > Shodan Yes he was. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2017, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-has-lowest-approval-ratings-of-any-new-president-in-history-of-polling/778107/30 "2017-01-26T20:39:33Z")
> [@Omg\_a\_Black\_Conservative](#): > > Yes, I realize she didn’t win. My point, which you understood, is that this is a non-story. Regardless of who won this election, they’d have the lowest incoming approval rating for any president. I highly doubt this thread would have popped up if Hillary won. So what? Regardless of what rating Hillary might have had, it’s still a story. This is the first time in history that an incoming president has had the approval of less than half the electorate. Since Hillary consistently had higher approval ratings than Trump, she very likely would have higher approval now - especially as she would certainly not have indulged in appointing such an extremely unqualified and divisive cabinet, nor engaged in Trump’s continued erratic and delusional behavior. Even if she had lower approval than Bush II, it would likely have been positive rather than negative like Trump. ---
**Author:** ![Eonwe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eonwe/32/240_2.png) [@Eonwe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eonwe)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2017, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-has-lowest-approval-ratings-of-any-new-president-in-history-of-polling/778107/31 "2017-01-26T21:00:52Z")
What, you’re going to listen to what the MEDIA tells you about anything? As reported by [The Washington Post](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/powerpost/wp/2017/01/25/house-science-committee-chairman-americans-should-get-news-from-trump-not-media): > [@Rep. Lamar Smith (R-Tex.)](#): > > Better to get your news directly from the president. In fact, it might be the only way to get the unvarnished truth. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2017, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-has-lowest-approval-ratings-of-any-new-president-in-history-of-polling/778107/32 "2017-01-27T02:33:28Z")
Is there any correlation between approval rating in week one of a Presidency and… anything else? ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Economist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/c89c15/32.png) [@Evil\_Economist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Economist)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2017, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-has-lowest-approval-ratings-of-any-new-president-in-history-of-polling/778107/33 "2017-01-27T02:37:29Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > Is there any correlation between approval rating in week one of a Presidency and… anything else? Call me crazy, but I think there may be a correlation between their approval rating and their popularity. Furthermore, I think there may be a correlation between their popularity and their ability to sway Congress. I also suspect, but cannot say for sure, that popularity may be important for politicians. ---
**Author:** ![PastTense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pasttense/32/14550_2.png) [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2017, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-has-lowest-approval-ratings-of-any-new-president-in-history-of-polling/778107/34 "2017-01-27T02:48:11Z")
Even worse numbers: > [@](#): > > Thirty-six percent of voters approve of the way President Donald Trump is handling his job in his first week, according to a new poll that reflects a sharp divide along partisan lines. The Quinnipiac University poll, conducted over the first five nights of Trump’s presidency — last Friday through Wednesday — shows that a larger percentage, 44 percent, disapprove of Trump’s job performance. Nineteen percent are undecided in the poll, which was released Thursday. > > Democrats, for the most part, aren’t giving Trump the benefit of the doubt, even at the outset of his four-year term. Only 4 percent of Democratic voters surveyed approve of Trump’s job performance, while the vast majority, 77 percent, disapprove. Nineteen percent are undecided. > > Republicans, however, are lining up behind Trump early on. Eighty-one percent of GOP voters approve of the way he is handling his job as president, while 3 percent disapprove and 15 percent are undecided. [http://www.politico.com/blogs/donald-trump-administration/2017/01/job-approval-rating-quinnipiac-poll-234225](http://www.politico.com/blogs/donald-trump-administration/2017/01/job-approval-rating-quinnipiac-poll-234225) ---
**Author:** ![Rigamarole](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/77aa72/32.png) [@Rigamarole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rigamarole)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2017, 5:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-has-lowest-approval-ratings-of-any-new-president-in-history-of-polling/778107/35 "2017-01-27T05:55:41Z")
> [@Evil\_Economist](#): > > I was following 538 pretty closely during the election. They had Trump with a fairly good chance of winning. They also gave him a fairly good chance of losing the popular vote but winning the electoral vote, which is what actually happened. I’d say polling worked pretty well, it’s just that people had a lot of trouble believing the polls because they didn’t believe anyone would actually vote for Trump. But that’s not really a polling problem. I think there probably was, and still is, a tendency for people who like/support/at least voted for Trump to be reluctant to admit it publicly (which would include to a stranger doing a poll). Which is not very surprising with all the anti-Trump shaming that goes on in pop culture (it’s certainly very prevalent on this board). The “silent majority” effect is real. Case in point: I have an uncle who I saw around the Christmas holiday, during which time he “came out” to our family as a Trump voter\*. He has a liberal girlfriend, and the family is mostly (but not entirely) liberal. Apparently he hadn’t admitted to anyone that he had, in fact, voted Trump, until that gathering, and it was a big secret up until then. \*For the record, he’s a 60 year-old educated white male. But in his case, I don’t think it has a lot to do with Trump specifically or necessarily liking him as a person/leader - he just tends toward conservative values in general. Which is probably in his best self-interest as someone who makes pretty good money and also works for the military (he’s a military lawyer), so I can’t necessarily fault him for that. He’s above-average in intelligence and pretty rational and reasonable when it comes to discussing political issues. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2017, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-has-lowest-approval-ratings-of-any-new-president-in-history-of-polling/778107/36 "2017-01-27T13:34:31Z")
> [@Evil\_Economist](#): > > Call me crazy, but I think there may be a correlation between their approval rating and their popularity. Furthermore, I think there may be a correlation between their popularity and their ability to sway Congress. I also suspect, but cannot say for sure, that popularity may be important for politicians. Your first sentence is a redundancy. As to your second, do you really think anyone in Congress cares about this poll now? In the months leading up to the midterms, sure, it matters. But there’s no election coming up now. People are also just reporting the approval ratings they prefer, anyway. Trump is very low in the Qunnipiac poll, but much better in the Gallup and Rasmussen polls. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2017, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-has-lowest-approval-ratings-of-any-new-president-in-history-of-polling/778107/37 "2017-01-27T15:59:03Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > Your first sentence is a redundancy. > > As to your second, do you really think anyone in Congress cares about this poll now? In the months leading up to the midterms, sure, it matters. But there’s no election coming up now. > > People are also just reporting the approval ratings they prefer, anyway. Trump is very low in the Qunnipiac poll, but much better in the Gallup and Rasmussen polls. What makes you think that Trump’s approval ratings are going to go up from here? I think the only thing that will produce a big bump would be a major terrorist attack on US soil, as 9/11 did for Bush II. ---
**Author:** ![oft\_wears\_hats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/7993a0/32.png) [@oft\_wears\_hats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/oft_wears_hats)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2017, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-has-lowest-approval-ratings-of-any-new-president-in-history-of-polling/778107/38 "2017-01-28T13:21:31Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > What makes you think that Trump’s approval ratings are going to go up from here? I think the only thing that will produce a big bump would be a major terrorist attack on US soil, as 9/11 did for Bush II. This is what scares me. There’s a good chance that, either intentionally or accidentally, the administration is going to allow an attack to occur and end up enjoying a popularity boost no matter how poorly they handle it. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2017, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-has-lowest-approval-ratings-of-any-new-president-in-history-of-polling/778107/39 "2017-01-28T18:02:57Z")
> [@oft\_wears\_hats](#): > > This is what scares me. That’s pretty much my greatest fear in regards to this administration. I feel that the hardline stance re:immigration bans and vocal nationalist bluster is just adding fuel to the fire and is setting us up for another terrorist attack. I hope to God I’m wrong, and I’m not the conspiratorial type, but advertently or inadvertently, I can’t help but feel this is making our security worse, not better, and just fanning the flames. If a major attack happens on Trump’s clock, God help us all. ---
**Author:** ![Lemur866](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lemur866/32/434_2.png) [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2017, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-has-lowest-approval-ratings-of-any-new-president-in-history-of-polling/778107/40 "2017-01-28T19:59:25Z")
There’s a theory that an attack or war boosts the president’s popularity. But I don’t think that’s really true. Wars aren’t universally popular. You can’t just gin up a war whenever you feel like it and have the public rally round the flag. The public first has to trust the leaders sending them to battle before the leaders can hoodwink them. Same thing with a terrorist attack. If there isn’t the aforementioned trust, then the public blames the leaders for not preventing the attack. There have been plenty of attacks that brought down governments that failed to respond appropriately to the attacks. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-has-lowest-approval-ratings-of-any-new-president-in-history-of-polling/778107.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-has-lowest-approval-ratings-of-any-new-president-in-history-of-polling/778107.md?page=3)