Poll: Trump's first-year job approval 10 points lower than predecessors

Jan. 22 (UPI) -- U.S. President Donald Trump's average job approval rating throughout his first year in office was more than 10 points lower than any other president, according to a Gallup poll released Monday.

Trump's job approval rating averaged 38.4 percent during his first year in office, ranking lower than Bill Clinton, the only other president whose rating was lower than 50 percent in their first year at 49.3 percent.

Gallup's data shows most presidents experience a "honeymoon" period in their first year in office when they receive substantial support from the public. During this time most presidents received above average approval rates of 57 percent or higher.

"Trump had little or no honeymoon period to speak of -- beginning his presidency with a job approval rating below 50 percent," Gallup said. "His ratings eroded over the course of his first year in office but have since stabilized between 36 percent and 37 percent."

Trump's first year average also ranks among the 10 worst of all presidential years since Gallup began measuring job approval in 1945.

His first year job approval rating ranks behind Harry Truman's sixth year in office, during which he had an average approval rating of 38.6 percent.

Other presidents within that range experienced low approval ratings near the end of their term, including George W. Bush's last three years in office and Richard Nixon's partial year before his resignation.

Historically low approval ratings from the opposite party also contributed to Trump's low overall numbers, as just 8 percent of Democrats approved of Trump's job performance during his first year.

This approval rating from Democrats is less than half the previous lowest approval rating among supporters of the opposition party in a president's first year, at 23 percent for both Clinton and Barack Obama.

The poll was conducted between Jan. 20, 2017 and Jan. 21, 2018 and included interviews of 175,710 adults aged 18 and older.

There was a 1 percent margin of error for the total sample of respondents.