- Title: Opinion polls show historically low approval ratings for Trump
- Date: 17th January 2017
- Summary: WASHINGTON, D.C., UNITED STATES (JANUARY 17, 2017) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF THE STAGING AREA FOR THE PRESIDENTIAL INAUGURATION WORKERS INSTALLING STAIRS ONTO THE INAUGURATION STAGE PAN FROM STAGING AREA TO U.S. CAPITAL BUILDING WITH DOZENS OF U.S. FLAGS BUILDING WITH SIGN THAT READS "WELCOME MR. PRESIDENT" VARIOUS OF POLICE AT STAGING AREA ZOOM OUT FROM U.S. CAPITAL DOME TO STREET SCENE
- Embargoed: 31st January 2017 21:15
- Keywords: U.S. President-elect Donald Trump opinion polls CNN Washington Post approval ratings election transition
- Location: WASHINGTON, D.C., / NEW YORK, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES / INTERNET
- City: WASHINGTON, D.C., / NEW YORK, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES / INTERNET
- Country: USA
- Topics: Government/Politics
- Reuters ID: LVA0035ZH0TVR
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text:U.S. President-elect Donald Trump has historically low approval ratings on the eve of his inauguration, according to two separate opinion polls published on Tuesday (January 17).
Together, the surveys from CNN/ORC and ABC News/Washington post suggest that 53-54 percent of Americans have an unfavorable view of Trump, making the billionaire real estate mogul the least popular incoming president since such polling began in the 1940's, according to Washington political analyst Mark Schmitt.
"I didn't consider it a surprise," said Schmitt, who directs the Program on Political Reform at New America, a think tank formerly known as The New America Foundation.
"I feel like that's been the trajectory of this transition from Election Day where he started off at a historically low level and doesn't seem to have done much to make it up," he told Reuters.
Trump disparaged the latest polls, saying in a tweet on Tuesday that the same people who conducted the "phony" election polls - which incorrectly predicted an election win for Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton - were also behind Tuesday's low polling numbers.
"They are rigged just like before," his Tweet partially read.
In New York's Times Square, tourists seemed to share some of Trump's suspicion of the polls, citing the same election forecasts that had Clinton winning the presidential election.
"So you gotta take everything that CNN and ABC and NBC out with a grain of salt," said Texas resident Jordan Cantrell.
"It could be exactly the same," said Sophie Boden from the United Kingdom. "When we were all watching the U.K. coverage, it was Hillary Clinton all the way. And then on the morning, the news came that it was Donald," she told Reuters.
But Schmitt cautioned against unbridled suspicion of the latest poll numbers.
"Anybody who deals with polls at all knows that polls have some inaccuracy to them. The biggest inaccuracy is always, in an election poll, trying to guess who's going to vote. So they're trying to say this is the opinion among likely voters. Approval polls like this don't have that problem. They're really about everybody," Schmitt said.
On Tuesday, crews worked in the rain to prepare the sprawling staging area in front of the U.S. capital where Trump's inauguration will take place on Friday (January 20).
Rain is forecast for Friday, although it was unclear if the pall of the historically low polling numbers would also cast a shadow over inauguration day. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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