Donald Trump is the most unpopular president to enter his second year in office in history, according to a new Gallup poll.
Newsweek reports Gallup polling over the last 80 years shows that presidents have had an average approval rating of 53 percent at this point in their presidency, while Trump starts 2018 with a historical low of just 37 percent.
Since taking office in January 2017, Trump’s approvals have shown a steady decline from a one-time high of 45 percent. By comparison, Trump’s predecessor Barack Obama had a 49 percent approval rating at the second-year stage of his presidency.
Pollsters also noted Presidents George W. Bush, Bill Clinton, George H.W. Bush, Ronald Reagan, and Jimmy Carter all had a cumulative average approval of 64 percent at this point in their presidency, and even Richard Nixon, who was later impeached, had an approval of 63 percent.
Gallup’s poll of 1,500 adults was conducted over the last several days, coinciding with the release of author Michael Wolff’s book Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House , which has proven to be vastly critical of Trump and his administration.
Former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon is reported to have served as a primary source for the book and since its release, Trump has sought to drastically diminish Bannon’s role in his improbable rise.
In the book, Politico has reported Bannon is quoted as castigating eldest son Donald Trump Jr. and son-in-law Jared Kushner as “treasonous” for meeting with Russian operatives offering dirt on Democratic rival Hillary Clinton back during the 2016 campaign.
Trump has since blasted Wolff as a “fraud” and his book as “fake.”
As for questions raised about his fitness for office, Trump has also defended his mental stability, deeming himself a “very stable genius.”
After climbing to a recent Gallup poll high of 39 percent following the passage of the GOP-sponsored tax plan that lowered the corporate tax rate to 21 percent, Trump’s approvals dipped back to 37 percent after the release of Fire and Fury .
Gallup noted the 39 percent rating represented a six-point drop from where Trump kicked off his presidency back in January. For the year, Trump averaged just a 39 percent approval rating.
