By: With reports from AFP
WASHINGTON (Xinhua) – A new poll showed Sunday the approval rating for US President Donald Trump, who approaches six months in office, sits at 36 percent after a steady decline since springtime, lower than that of any of his predecessors in 70 years.
Results of the poll, carried out by US Broadcaster ABC News and newspaper Washington Post, come amid a wider perceptions of a decline in US global influence, a much-delayed Republican agenda, and unfolding stories about alleged Russia’s links to the 2016 Trump campaign.
Trump responded to the poll in a tweet, saying: “The ABC/Washington Post Poll, even though almost 40% is not bad at this time, was just about the most inaccurate poll around election time!”
The fresh poll indicated the overall approval rating for Trump has dropped to 36 percent from 42 percent since April, the lowest for any president in polling history since Harry Truman at the six-month mark.
Figures showed that the last US president as unpopular at the same mark was Gerald Ford, with a 39 percent of approval rating in February, 1975.
Of those surveyed, 58 percent expressed disapproval of Trump’s job performance, among which 48 percent said they “disapprove strongly.”
The poll also showed that 48 percent of the respondents see the US leadership in the world as weaker since Trump was inaugurated in January, with only 27 percent believing it to be stronger. Two thirds said they do not trust Trump to negotiate with other world leaders on the US behalf.
Just 28 percent of those polled said they think Trump is making significant progress toward his goals, while 55 percent think otherwise.
The US intelligence community alleged that Russia meddled in the US presidential race last year and connections existed between the Russian government and the Trump campaign, which the Kremlin has denied.
The ABC-Post poll finds a majority, about 60 percent, of Americans said they believe Russia tried to meddle in the 2016 US presidential election, while about 44 percent think Trump benefited from those attempts.
Besides, roughly 4 in 10 Americans said they see Trump’s campaign team intentionally helped Russian efforts to influence the election.
When asked about a 2016 meeting Donald Trump Jr., the eldest son of Trump, had with a Russian lawyer in a hope to get hands on materials allegedly helpful for his father’s campaign, 63 percent considered the meeting as inappropriate.
On a health care bill supported by Republicans in a bid to overhaul the country’s existing system, half of those surveyed said they prefer the current one, and only 24 percent favored the Trump-proposed legislation.
