Donald Trump has had the worst first month of any president since polling began, according to the results of a major, new poll released on Sunday. The NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll found that only 44 percent of Americans approve of the job Trump has done during his first month in the White House, while 48 percent — nearly half — expressed some level of disapproval with Trump.
The four-point net negative rating, however, is a better performance for Trump than in several other recent polls measuring his job approval.
Gallup poll sees Trump deeply underwater
A poll released on Sunday by the Gallup research organization sees a net negative approval rating of a whopping 12 points for Trump at this early point in his term, with only 41 percent of respondents in the Gallup survey saying they approve of Trump so far, while 51 percent don’t like what they see.
Another poll, by the research group Survey Monkey, also found similarly high dissatisfaction with Trump. While 44 percent approved of Trump’s performance on the job so far, a staggering 54 percent did not in the Survey Monkey poll, which collected responses from 10,639 adults, contacted via the internet. The NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll surveyed 1,000 respondents, using telephone interviews.
Americans see Trump as decisive
Despite the dismal results for Trump in the NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll and other recent approval rating surveys, the news was not all bad for Trump in the newest poll. The survey found that Americans perceive Trump as “firm and decisive” in his decision-making style by a wide margin. In fact, a full 38 percent gave Trump the highest possible grade, rating his decisiveness on a scale of one through five.
But when it comes to his “temperament,” respondents in the new poll were far more dissatisfied by what they have seen so far from Trump.
WSJ/NBC poll finds 44% of Americans approve of Trump’s job performance, while 48% disapprove https://t.co/luqe31KNVo
— Wall Street Journal (@WSJ) February 26, 2017
Only eight percent, fewer than one in 10, gave Trump a “five” rating on the question of whether or not he possesses the correct “temperament” for the job of president, while well over half gave him the minimum grade of “one” — 45 percent — or the next worst grade of “two.” Ten percent rated him at a “two” level for his temperamental qualities.
Despite their low regard for Trump’s job performance, Americans remain optimistic about the future, according to the poll, with about 60 percent saying they continue to hold out hope for the future of the country.