With 40% approval rating Trump fights back against ‘rigged’ poll

President-elect Donald Trump criticized the latest ABC News-Washington Post poll for being ‘rigged’ and showing only 4 in 10 Americans approved of him, three days before his inauguration.

“The same people who did the phony election polls, and were so wrong, are now doing approval rating polls,” wrote Donald Trump in a tweet about the poll on Tuesday. “They are rigged just like before.”

The recently published survey showed the incoming president with only a 40 percent approval rating, with 54 percent of Americans viewing him unfavorably. The rating makes it “the lowest of any incoming president in at least 40 years,” according to the National Public Radio.

In comparison, pre-inauguration approval ratings were overwhelmingly favorable for the past two presidents, Democrat Barack Obama at 80 percent and Republican George W. Bush at 72 percent.

Trump’s transition team also took a beating with 4 in 10 Americans said approving of how they handled the changeover of power.

The president-elect scored better on some issues. Six in 10 Americans expected him “to do an excellent or good job on the economy and on jobs alike, and 56 percent expect him to do well in handling terrorism.”

Fifty two percent of those polled thought Trump was unqualified to serve as president, down from 64 percent who thought he was unqualified in June 2016. His decision making was more of a worry with six in 10 Americans lacking confidence in him to make the right decisions for the country’s future. In comparison, Obama started with 61 percent having confidence in his ability to make the right decisions.

On key issues for Americans: 72 percent thought Trump would deport undocumented criminals; 57 percent thought he will renegotiate the NAFTA trade agreement; 60 percent thought he won’t build the wall between America and Mexico; 53 percent think he will punish companies that move jobs overseas; 46 percent think he will withdraw from the Iran nuclear deal; while only 32 percent think he will bar entry to Muslims who aren’t US citizens.

American voters are split on the Affordable Care Act, with 47 percent supporting Trump’s claim he will repeal the healthcare program and 46 percent opposing the idea he will.

The ABC News/Washington Post poll was conducted among a random national sample of 1,005 registered voters on landline and cellular telephones on January 12-15, 2017. Results had a 3.5-point margin of sampling error.

A recent Quinnipiac poll found Trump’s regular tweeting hasn’t endeared him to Americans. Almost two-thirds thought at “Trump should close his personal Twitter account,” with 49 percent of Republicans in favor of the step, while 45 percent supporting the tweeter-in-chief.