U.S. President Donald Trump tweeted Friday morning that his approval rating as president — regardless of what “fake news” organizations say — is about the same as former president Barack Obama‘s was during his first year in office.
READ MORE: Obama says to put women in power ‘because men seem to be having some problems these days’
The president pointed to a poll by Rasmussen Reports, released Thursday, which found his approval rating to be 46 per cent and disapproval rating at 53 per cent. On the same day (Dec. 28) during Obama’s first year as president, a Rasmussen poll found his approval rating was 47 per cent and disapproval was 52 per cent.
WATCH: Obama says U.S. absence in Paris climate agreement ‘difficult position to defend’
Trump claimed that their approval ratings in the poll, which was discussed on Fox and Friends, are nearly identical “despite massive negative Trump coverage & Russia hoax.”
But Real Clear Politics, a website that tracks all major polls on the president’s job performance, shows that Trump’s average approval rating among all polls is 39.3 per cent, and his average disapproval rating is 56.2 per cent.
READ MORE: Donald Trump supporters’ faith seems to be unshaken
Real Clear Politics also tracked the average ratings for Obama‘s presidency. During his first December in office, the former president’s approval rating was 49.9 per cent. His disapproval rating was 44.5 per cent. That means his approval score was about 10 per cent higher than Trump.
The Washington Post reports that Rasmussen is known to have the most Republican-friendly polling.
WATCH: 2017 Year in Review — Donald Trump & U.S. politics
“Why? Because Rasmussen Reports includes only likely voters in its polling, a group that tends to skew more heavily Republican, since Republicans tend to vote more regularly,” the newspaper explains.
According to Rasmussen’s website, their daily approval polls are completed by 500 likely voters over the phone. The margin of error is plus or minus 2.5 percentage points.
Most admired man by America
Trump’s claim that his job performance approval is just as high as his predecessor comes just days after another poll found that Obama is the most liked man by Americans — for the 10th year in a row. Trump was the second most liked in the Gallup poll.
READ MORE: 7 important storylines from Trump’s first year
Hillary Clinton, for the 16th consecutive year, was the most admired woman by Americans.
WATCH: Trump thanks Coast Guard for response to Hurricane Harvey
Gallup explained on its website that it’s fairly rare for an incumbent president to not claim the top spot. The sitting president has won 58 times out of the 71 times the poll has been conducted since 1946.
Other men on this year’s list included Pope Francis, Sen. John McCain and Tesla CEO Elon Musk.
WATCH: Year in Review 2017 — Donald Trump’s awkward handshakes
Comments