President-elect Donald Trump on Tuesday tweeted that approval rating polls are rigged against him, as a series of polls show him with historically low approval as he enters office. In the latest survey, only 40% of respondents in a Washington Post/ABC News poll approve of the way Trump has handled the post-election transition, making him the least popular incoming president of the last seven chief executives.

Media: Wibbitz

The contentious first few days of Donald Trump's presidency have not produced the approval numbers normal for a president's so-called honeymoon period, according to a new national Gallup Poll.

"President Donald Trump is the first elected president in Gallup's polling history to receive an initial job approval rating below the majority level," Gallup reported.

"He starts his term in office with 45 percent of Americans approving the way he is handling his new job, 45 percent disapproving, and 10 percent yet to form an opinion."

By contrast, President Obama had a 68 percent approval rating for his first days in office.  George W. Bush was at 57 percent and Bill Clinton at 58 percent.  But just 25 percent disapproved of Bush's early performance, and only 20 percent gave Clinton a thumbs down.

"Trump now holds the record for the lowest initial job approval rating as well as the highest initial disapproval rating in Gallup surveys dating back to Dwight Eisenhower."

Ike, incidentally, had a 68 percent approval rating early in 1953, with just 7 percent approving the general's performance in office.

Photo: 2017 Getty Images
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President Obama had a 68 percent approval rating, with only 12 percent disapproving, in post-inaugural 2009 Gallup survey.  President Trump gets far lower approval, at 45 percent, with 45 percent registering disapproval.
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President Obama had a 68 percent approval rating, with only 12 percent disapproving, in post-inaugural 2009 Gallup survey.  President Trump gets far lower approval, at 45 percent, with 45 percent registering ... more
Photo: 2017 Getty Images
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President Trump gets lowest initial job approval rating since the Gallup Poll began taking surveys in 1953..
President Trump gets lowest initial job approval rating since the Gallup Poll began taking surveys in 1953..
Photo: GENNA MARTIN, SEATTLEPI.COM

The new Gallup Poll showed a divided America, and no evidence of effort or result by the 45th President to pull it together. Its findings:

--Ninety percent of Republicans approve Trump's performance, while 81 percent of Democrats disapprove.  Forty percent of Independents give thumbs-up to Trump, while 44 percent disapprove of the job he is doing.

--Women tilt against Trump, with 49 percent disapproving and 42 percent approval.  Men are favorable to Trump by a 48-41 percent margin.

--Trump gets his highest rating among whites and those aged 65 and older.  Sixty four percent of nonwhite voters disapprove of his performance, while only 22 percent approve.

--Trump gets his worst marks among young voters aged 18 to 29, with a 38 percent approval rating while 54 percent disapprove of the job being done by the 45th president.

"Gallup's day-to-day results indicate Americans reacted positively to Trump on Friday, just hours after his inauguration," the pollster reported.  "But the weekend's events may have been corrosive, as his approval score trended downward on Saturday and Sunday.

An estimated 3.5 million people across America participated Saturday in women's marches, with as many as 120,000 taking to the streets in the largest demonstration Seattle has ever seen. 

The Gallup findings were based on interviews, done January 20-22, with a random sampling of 1,525 adults aged 18 and older.  The poll's margin of error is plus/minus 3.5 percent.