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Donald Trump approval rating lowest of any president since WWII

Donald Trump's six-month approval rating marks the lowest in the poll's 70-year history.

Donald Trump's six-month approval rating marks the lowest in the poll's 70-year history. Photo: Getty

Donald Trump has recorded the lowest six-month approval rating of any post-World War II president.

Just 36 per cent of Americans approved of Mr Trump’s performance according to the latest ABC News/Washington Post poll, as the Russian meddling in the 2016 election and the President’s awkward overseas interactions continue to influence his assessment.

The approval rating was the lowest in the poll’s 70-year history, and eclipsed the 1975 mark of 39 per cent for Gerald Ford in February 1975 after he pardoned Richard Nixon in the fallout of the Watergate scandal.

Mr Trump’s approval rating is also down six points since his 100-day milestone.

The President’s disapproval rating has risen to a record-high of 58 per cent, with 48 per cent of those polled saying they “strongly disapproved” his performance in office.

Mr Trump’s troubles stem largely from the Russian controversy, according to the poll, with 63 per cent of respondents saying it was inappropriate for his son, Donald Trump Jr, to have met with a Russian lawyer in a bid to access information on Hillary Clinton during the 2016 election.

It also found 60 per cent of Americans think Russia tried to influence the presidential race, and of those 67 per cent say Trump aides were complicit.

In addition, 38 per cent of those surveyed said Mr Trump has made significant progress towards his goals, while two-thirds of respondents don’t trust him to negotiate with other world leaders, including Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Just 27 per cent believe the United States’ world leadership has grown stronger under President Trump.

His failed election promise to “immediately” repeal and replace Obamacare has also hurt Mr Trump, with 50 per cent of Americans indicating they prefer the current health care law over the Republican replacement.

However, despite Mr Trump’s weak personal ratings his administration was boosted by two factors – the weakness in his Democratic opposition and his greater strength on the economy.

Only 37 per cent of those surveyed said the Democratic Party “stands for something”, while 52 per cent said it simply “stands against Trump”.

Forty-three per cent approved of President Trump’s handling of the economy with 41 per cent disapproving.

Mr Trump responded to the ABC/Washington Post poll on Monday morning.

The previous two presidents, Barack Obama and George W Bush, were at 59 per cent at the six-month mark.

Roughly half of the poll’s respondents said Mr Trump is doing a worse job than most past presidents, while just under a 25 per cent say he is doing better, and a similar share say he is faring about the same as previous presidents.

A 55 percent majority say Trump is not making significant progress toward his goals.

The Post-ABC poll was conducted from July 10-13 among a random national sample of 1001 adults via on both mobile and landline phones.

The Washington Post said the margin of sampling error for overall results is plus or minus 3.5 percentage points.

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