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Journalism of Courage
Donald Trump has the lowest 100-day job approval rating of any US President in the past 80 years, an ABC News/Washington Post/Ipsos poll has found. At 39%, his approval ratings have beaten the last lowest record, also of Trump in 2017, when 42% of the respondents approved of him.
This sounds like very bad news for the Republican president. However, the worse takeaway from the poll is for his rivals the Democrats, who are trusted even less to fix America’s problems.
Among people who voted for Trump in the November elections, just 6% say they now regret it.
The poll dates back to 1945.
Here are the three main findings from the poll.
One of Trump’s main campaign promises had been an economic turnaround and lower food prices. His three months in office have seen break-neck action on the economic front, announcing, rolling back and pausing dramatic measures, including unprecedented levels of tariffs on most countries across the world. Many Americans, however, do not seem impressed.
According to the poll, “Seventy-two percent think it’s very or somewhat likely that his economic policies will cause a recession in the short term. Seventy-three percent say the economy is in bad shape, 53% say it’s gotten worse since Trump took office and 41% say their own finances have worsened.”
While 62% said prices were rising, 71% believed tariffs played a role in the price inflation.
Trump has been saying that Americans just need to ride out a brief period of discomfort before his policies transform the economy for the better. However, according to the poll, produced for ABC by Langer Research Associates with fieldwork by Ipsos, only 31 % “accept Trump’s argument that the economy will emerge with a stronger foundation for the long term.”
On immigration, America’s position in the world
According to the poll, among Trump’s actions, his handling of immigration is the least-criticised. A crackdown on illegal immigration had been another major campaign promise from team Trump.
“Anywhere from 57 to 67 % of Americans disapprove of Trump’s performance on six of seven issues tested in this survey, including six in 10 or more on his handling of stock market volatility, tariffs, foreign relations and the economy overall. Fewer, 53 %, disapprove of his handling of immigration,” the poll report says.
About the position of America in the world under Trump, 49-34 % “think Trump has weakened rather than strengthened the country’s leadership in the world.” This is better than Joe Biden’s score of 48-23 % on the same issue in 2022.
Trump had promised to end the Russia-Ukraine war on his first day in office. While that has not happened, the poll found 46 per cent of the respondents felt Trump’s approach to Russia was too friendly.
Voters’ views of the Democrats
Despite the lack of happiness with Trump, Americans trust him over the Democrats in Congress to handle the nation’s problems by 37-30%, the survey says. As many as 30% don’t trust either.
“Further, while 60% say Trump is out of touch with the concerns of most people in the country, even more, 69%, say the Democratic Party is out of touch. It’s 64% for the Republican Party,” the survey report says.
Interestingly, Trump is largely trusted at least within the Republican camp. The Democrats haven’t managed that, according to this poll. “In the political middle, 62 % of independents say Trump is out of touch, while substantially more, 76%, say the Democratic Party is out of touch. And in their own camps, relatively few Republicans say Trump is out of touch — 19% — while twice as many Democrats, 38%, say this about their own party,” the poll says.
