Nearly 6 Months Into Trump's Presidency, His Approval Ratings Are Stuck At Historic Lows

WASHINGTON ― New polls show President Donald Trump’s approval ratings are at historic lows, as Trump hits the six-month mark of his presidency this Thursday.

Only 36 percent of Americans approve of Trump’s job performance as president, according to a new Washington Post/ABC News poll released Sunday, slightly down from 42 percent in April. Only 25 percent strongly back Trump.

A Bloomberg poll released Monday found Trump’s approval rating at 40 percent. 

The result is the lowest for any president in 70 years. Trump’s most recent predecessors, Barack Obama and George W. Bush, had approval ratings of 59 percent around this point in their presidencies.

Both polls indicate Trump’s approval ratings have largely stagnated. They have remained at or below 40 percent for much of the past few months, according to HuffPost Pollster’s aggregate of publicly available surveys. 

Trump on Sunday dismissed the Washington Post/ABC News poll, tweeting that it “was just about the most inaccurate poll around election time” — which was inaccurate. He also downplayed the low numbers as “not bad at this time.”

But Republicans — and especially Trump’s core supporters — are still sticking by him.

About 82 percent of respondents identifying as Republicans in the Washington Post/ABC News poll said they approve of Trump.

And 89 percent of Trump voters polled by Bloomberg said they think he is doing a good job as president.

As many previous polls have indicated, Trump’s mounting scandals regarding whether his campaign colluded with Russia in last year’s election are not of concern to most rank-and-file Republicans.

Responding to last week’s news of Trump’s eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., meeting with a Russian lawyer after being promised damaging information on his father’s election opponent, Hillary Clinton, 48 percent of Republicans in the Washington Post/ABC News poll said the June 2016 meeting was appropriate.

A HuffPost/YouGov survey last week found similar results, with 47 percent of Republicans and 60 percent of Trump voters saying it was appropriate.

And while 52 percent of respondents overall in the Washington Post/ABC News poll said they think Trump is trying to interfere with the multiple investigations into possible collusion with Russia, 73 percent of Republicans said they believe Trump is cooperating with them. 

The Washington Post/ABC News poll was conducted July 10-13 and polled a sample of 1,001 adults by phone. The Bloomberg poll was conducted July 8-12 and polled a sample of 1,001 adults by phone.