Trump's job rating higher than his personal approval, poll shows

Oct. 3 (UPI) -- A new survey Thursday indicates President Donald Trump's job approval rating among Americans is higher than his support as a person.

Gallup said 40 percent of respondents approve of the way Trump is handling his job as president. The share who feel the same about Trump as a person, is 34 percent.

The pollster said the division is similar to what many Americans felt about former President Bill Clinton after his affair with intern Monica Lewinsky. A 2000 survey showed Clinton's job rating was 59 percent, compared to a personal rating of just 29 percent. His successor, George W. Bush, tipped the scales in the other direction in late 2003 -- earning a 50 percent job rating and a personal favorability near 70 percent.

"Clinton's and Bush's respective ratings illustrate that Americans view presidents' performance differently than they view them as people, but that distinction might be lessened in the highly polarized political environment Trump governs in," Gallup wrote.

Nearly 90 percent of Republicans approve of the job Trump is doing, compared to 76 percent who support him as a person. Democrats peg his job approval at 5 percent, and 6 percent favor him as a person.

A Gallup poll in July showed a slight majority of respondents said Trump is a strong and decisive president, while more than two-thirds believed him to be dishonest.