Donald Trump has lowest favorability rating out of all Presidents-elect in last 20 years, poll reveals
Polls showed President-elect Donald Trump was the least popular major-party nominee in history.
BY CAMERON JOSEPH
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Thursday, November 17, 2016, 5:40 PM
Donald Trump is the least popular President-elect in recent history, according to a new poll.
Just 42% of Americans hold a favorable view of Trump, with 55% holding an unfavorable view of him, according to Gallup, which has been conducting this survey for more than two decades.
Trump's favorability ratings have actually improved since he was elected — he had just a 34% favorability rating heading into the election, with 62% of Americans viewing him unfavorably, according to Gallup. Presidents-elect often see bumps in their polling numbers as the bitterness of the campaign fades and voters decide to give the new guy a chance — at least until they're sworn in. His current number matches his best standing since March 2011.
Before the election, Trump's favorability rating sat at just 34%, lower than his current 42%.
Those numbers pale in comparison to other recent Presidents-elect — including those who won with pluralities of the vote. President Obama's favorable rating was 68% at this point after the 2008 election. In mid-December of 2000, then-President-elect George W. Bush sat at 59% and in early November of 1992 then-President-elect Bill Clinton was at 58%.
"Americans have consistently viewed Trump more negatively than positively. The sole exception in Gallup's trend came in 2005, when Trump's reality show 'The Apprentice' was among the most popular TV programs," Gallup's Jeffrey Jones writes.
Polls throughout the campaign showed that Trump was the most unpopular major-party nominee in history. But he had the luck to be running against the second-most unpopular nominee in history, Hillary Clinton. Gallup's final pre-election poll found her favorability at just 40% with 57% viewing her unfavorably, and a post-election YouGov/Economist poll found her remaining underwater after her loss at 43%-52%.
