Poll: Donald Trump Ends Presidency with Lowest Approval Rating

President Donald Trump will leave office with the lowest approval rating of his presidency, according to a Pew Research poll.

The poll conducted from January 8-12 shows Trump currently has a 29 percent approval rating.

The Pew poll differs sharply from a Rasmussen poll released Friday showing the president still holds an approval rating of 48 percent.

The Pew poll shows 68 percent of Americans disapprove of Trump’s performance after the riots on Capitol Hill, up nine points.

In August, the Pew poll showed Trump had a 38 percent favorable approval rating and in June he had a 39 percent rating. Trump’s highest rating in the Pew poll was at 45 percent in March 2020.

Since August, the president has suffered a 17-point decline in approval from Republicans and Republican-leaning individuals in the poll.

The poll shows Trump’s approval ratings among Republicans going from a record high of 85 percent in 2020 to the current 60 percent approval rating, a decline of 25 points.

The riots on Capitol Hill appear to have damaged Trump’s approval ratings.

Fifty-two percent say Trump should bear “a lot” of the blame after his supporters stormed Capitol Hill last week but 47 percent of respondents say that the president deserved “a little” of the blame or “nothing at all.”

A wide majority of Americans in the poll also do not want to see Trump continue as a major political figure in the future.

Sixty-eight percent of those polled said they do not want Trump to be a major political figure while only 29 percent said they do.

The majority of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents, 57 percent, want Trump to remain a major political figure while 40 percent do not.

Fifty-four percent of respondents also endorse Trump’s removal from office, with Vice President Mike Pence finishing the remainder of his term. Forty-five percent believe Trump should remain in office until his term ends.

The poll also shows a large number of Americans still question the 2020 election.

Only 53 percent believe President-elect Joe Biden “definitely” won the election, 13 percent believe Biden “probably” won while a combined 33 percent believe that Donald Trump “probably” or “definitely” won.

Voters in the poll attributed Biden’s win to their ability to vote by mail and their motivations to vote against Trump.

Sixty-three percent say a major reason Biden won because of voters’ desire to vote against Trump and 57 percent say a major reason Biden won was because of their ability to vote early or vote by mail.

The poll was conducted January 8-12 among 5,360 U.S. adults, including 4,040 who said they voted in the presidential election.