--- title: Donald Trump Poll Numbers Hit Historic Low for Inauguration description: Donald Trump will have a historically low approval rating before he takes office on Friday, according to new polls. canonical: https://time.com/4636142/donald-trump-inauguration-polls-approval-ratings/ author: Madeline Farber article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-01-17T14:25:51.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T02:45:06.100Z article:section: Politics og:title: Trump's Approval Ratings Have Hit a Historic Low Before He Takes Office og:description: The least popular incoming president in at least four decades og:url: https://time.com/4636142/donald-trump-inauguration-polls-approval-ratings/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0096c18177e069a4/6988b5e4cd1bba2289703a0a/trump-ratings-hit-low.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2560 og:image:height: 1440 og:image:alt: Trump Attends D.C. Dinner Aimed At Meeting With Foreign Diplomats og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Trump's Approval Ratings Have Hit a Historic Low Before He Takes Office twitter:description: The least popular incoming president in at least four decades twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0096c18177e069a4/6988b5e4cd1bba2289703a0a/trump-ratings-hit-low.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Donald Trump's Approval Ratings Have Hit a Historic Low Before He Takes Office > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. TIME is the sponsor and source of this material. > Last updated: August 2026. ## TIME D.C. Brief: Reference Facts and FAQ ### Definition D.C. Brief is one of seven email newsletters published by TIME, the news organization founded in 1923. Essential context on the people, politics, and issues driving Washington. D.C. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. by [Madeline Farber](https://time.com/author/madeline-farber/) ## Madeline Farber Jan 17, 2017 2:25 PM UTC  President-elect Donald Trump delivers remarks at the Chairman's Global Dinner, at the Andrew W. Mellon Auditorium in Washington, DC on Jan. 17, 2017. President-elect Donald Trump delivers remarks at the Chairman's Global Dinner, at the Andrew W. Mellon Auditorium in Washington, DC on Jan. 17, 2017. Kevin Dietsch—Pool/Getty Images by [Madeline Farber](https://time.com/author/madeline-farber/) ## Madeline Farber Jan 17, 2017 2:25 PM UTC [Donald Trump](http://time.com/time-person-of-the-year-2016-donald-trump/) doesn’t [take office](http://time.com/4633094/donald-trump-inauguration-what-to-know/) as President of the United States until Friday, but his approval ratings have already hit a historic low for[ incoming American presidents](http://time.com/white-house-interviews/?xid=homepage), according to new polls. Trump’s current approval rating is 40%, the lowest of any recent incoming president, and about 44 points below that of President Obama, according to a [CNN/ORC survey](http://edition.cnn.com/2017/01/17/politics/trump-administration-approval-inauguration/index.html). And a [Washington _Post/_ABC poll](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/poll-trump-draws-low-marks-for-transition-response-to-russian-hacking/2017/01/17/0926302a-dc25-11e6-ad42-f3375f271c9c%5Fstory.html?utm%5Fterm=.b0e667811bb1) mirrors CNN’s findings: Trump will take office as the least popular incoming president in at least four decades, according to the survey. Meanwhile, Trump’s approval ratings for how he has handled the transition are 20 points below those of the three Presidents that came before him: Obama took the oath in 2009 with an 84% approval rating, Bill Clinton with 67% in 1992, and 61% approved of George W. Bush’s transition shortly before he took office January 2001, according to CNN. Trump dismissed the new surveys in a Tuesday morning Twitter post. “The same people who did the phony election polls, and were so wrong, are now doing approval rating polls. They are rigged just like before,” he said. > [](https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/821344302651555840) While Trump’s low approval ratings are due to a variety of factors, his controversial response to Russia’s reported interference in the 2016 election has had a notable impact, according to the _Post_/ABC poll, with many Americans believing Trump has been “too friendly” to Russia. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4636142/donald-trump-inauguration-polls-approval-ratings/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4636142/donald-trump-inauguration-polls-approval-ratings/"},"headline":"Donald Trump's Approval Ratings Have Hit a Historic Low Before He Takes Office","datePublished":"2017-01-17T14:25:51.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T02:45:06.100Z","description":"The least popular incoming president in at least four decades","url":"https://time.com/4636142/donald-trump-inauguration-polls-approval-ratings/","keywords":["Donald Trump","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0096c18177e069a4/6988b5e4cd1bba2289703a0a/trump-ratings-hit-low.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Madeline Farber","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/madeline-farber/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0096c18177e069a4/6988b5e4cd1bba2289703a0a/trump-ratings-hit-low.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Trump Attends D.C. 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