, Columnist
Where Trump's Dismal Popularity Could Hurt Him Most
The president-elect has squandered one of the most important opportunities to win influence over a chaotic government.
Going down?
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The one constant from the nomination campaign, the general election campaign, and the transition is that most Americans don't like Donald Trump very much. We don't know whether that will change, but it does appear that he's squandered one of the big opportunities for a popularity surge.
Two new polls both give Trump's approval rating for the transition at 40 percent. The HuffPollster estimate of his "favorable" rating is just a bit higher, at 42 percent. Both are -- by far -- the worst for any president-elect at the end of the transition period during the polling era. We have no numbers for John Q. Adams or Rutherford Hayes, but it seems likely that Trump will take office with the least support among the American people ever.