Donald Trump denounces poll showing 6 months in job he has record low approval

A new poll has put Donald Trump's approval rating at a record low for someone almost six months into a his presidency - but the president denounced it as "inaccurate".

The poll, carried out by Langer Research Associates for ABC News and the Washington Post, put Trump's approval rating at just 36%, with 58% disapproval.

Those numbers are the lowest for an elected commander-in-chief only half a year into his post for 70 years and are close to those of Gerald Ford, who was not elected but took over from Richard Nixon after his resignation.

However, Ford's approval rating at six months was still three points higher than Trump's at 39%, and his disapproval rating 15% lower at 43%.

Trump has been fighting against a Russia scandal that has been slowly engulfing his presidency.

Adding to the latest controversy was his son, Donald Trump Jr, tweeting an email exchange that seemed to show him agreeing to meeting with a Kremlin-linked lawyer for dirt on his father's presidential rival, Hillary Clinton.

Characteristically, Trump went after the poll on Twitter. Contrary to what the numbers suggest, Trump said that "almost 40% is not bad at this time", while also saying that the particular poll "was just about the most inaccurate poll around election time!"

Just before that he tried to push the story onto election rival from last year, saying: "Hillary Clinton can illegally get the questions to the Debate & delete 33,000 emails but my son Don is being scorned by the Fake News Media?"

The new poll not only showed low approval ratings for the president, it also suggested that the Republican plan to replace the current health care system, brought in under former president Barack Obama, is also deeply unpopular.

Some 50% of Americans polled preferred current health care law against just 24% who said they supported the Republican plan. Whether or not that plan will see the light of day came under new trouble this weekend as Republican Senator John McCain underwent a medical procedure - leading leadership to further postpone the vote.