No Love For Donald Trump On V-Day, Approval Rating Sinks Lower
President Donald Trump is definitely not feeling any love today as his approval ratings sink even further than before to a new historic low. It’s close to one month since Trump entered the White House after a surprising election win in November, and people in the country are letting him know that they do not agree or approve of his work so far.
According to a new AOL poll, the president’s approval rating declined in the past week, reporting that only 40 percent of those polled approve of Trump’s presidency thus far. This is down 3 percent from last week’s poll that reported a 43 percent approval rating. An astounding 55 percent of those polled disapprove of the presidency; a huge number considering it’s only been one month since he took office.
Looking in the past, this low rating sheds interesting light on how Trump stacks up compared to previous commanders-in-chief. After Obama’s first month in office in February 2009, his rating was over 60 percent, AOL reports. Before that, President George W. Bush sat at 57 percent in February 2001. In recent memory, the only time an approval rating saw such lows was right after Hurricane Katrina in 2005, when Bush’s rating fell to 40 percent (and a 58 percent disapproval rate), the Huffington Post reports. However, this occurred during Bush’s second term, not directly after assuming the Oval Office. It looks like Donald’s controversial and unconventional approach to the position hasn’t sat well with the general public.
While a month is not a long time to compile a track record, plenty has occurred in this short time frame to have a big effect on his overall rating. Coming off a proposed Muslim ban (which banned travel from seven Muslim-majority countries into the United States) likely played a large role in the declining numbers. Since taking office, Trump has signed this executive order into action, creating much push back from the press, the public, and other politicians alike. Currently, lawsuits are in motion to fight back against the order, but how successful they will be, if at all, is yet to be seen. In addition, his push to defund Planned Parenthood has created a swarm of controversy, leading to protests across the country (and the world) to speak out against him.
In addition to the ban, questionable behavior from members of Trump’s own administration has made the headlines in the month since he took office. Kellyanne Conway has claimed that the administration has provided “alternative facts” to the public, and she may have even broken the law by endorsing Ivanka Trump’s clothing line on a news appearance last week. Press Secretary Sean Spicer was the provider of said “alternative facts,” landing him in hot water as well. While these missteps are nothing to be proud of, they pale in comparison to the president’s own behavior.
The president himself has gone on rants on social media websites like Twitter, accusing news outlets of being “fake news” and negatively tweeting about anyone who publicly speaks out against him, like he did when Meryl Streep spoke out at the Golden Globe Awards in January. These actions have created considerable buzz and newsworthy headlines over the month, which likely didn’t help improve his rating.
In a very divisive time in America right now, there’s no telling as to how the further projection of his approval rating will go. If Trump’s current and future plans continue to move ahead into fruition (including the building and maintaining of a physical wall on the U.S. and Mexico border), there may be an even further decline.
[Featured Image by Alex Wong/ Getty Images]
