Trump approval rating hits new low with worst marks ever for a US president's first month

A new poll suggests Americans see real problems within the Trump administration as US President Donald Trump's approval ratings struck a historic low during a president's first month in office.

Trump's job approval rating is 44%, according to an NBC News and Wall Street Journal poll released late on Sunday 26 February. 48% Americans said they disapprove of his performance during his first month in office, according to the polling conducted during 18-22 February.

About 52% of the 1,000 people who responded said that the challenges faced by the Trump administration early on are "real problems" and "unique to this administration". Roughly 32% said that Trump is "not up to being president". However 30% said that he's having a "great start".

Trump has been forced to fire his national security adviser after just 24 days on the job — the shortest tenure in history — as well as face down a federal court that halted one of his first executive orders blocking people from seven majority-Muslim nations from entering the US. The administration is also up against several investigations by the FBI, Senate, and US intelligence agencies over allegations of contacts between Trump campaign aides and Russian government officials.

The NBC/WSJ poll also indicated 24% of people believe the president is performing worse than they expected, while 19% believed he is showing a better performance than what they hoped for.

The new numbers on Trump's approval rating roughly correspond to a Gallup polling released on Sunday that shows Trump with a 41% approval rating and 54% disapproval. The president's average approval rating for his first month in office, according to Gallup, is 42%.

The latest Gallup numbers show a dip from the end of Trump's first week in office when their polling gave Trump a 46% approval to 45% disapproval rating. President Trump is the first elected president in the organisation's history to receive an initial job performance rating below the majority of other presidents.

Numbers in the most positive Rasmussen Reports polls have also eased off as its polling shows 53% approval and 47% disapproval for president Trump's performance. This is down from Trump's 59% approval rating score with Rasmussen after his first week in office.

According to NBC's past polling numbers, Trump's net negative rating compares starkly to the 34% positive experienced by Barack Obama and George H.W. Bush's 45% net positive.