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Trump one of least popular presidents since polls began, while Obama one of the most liked, new survey finds

Mr Trump barely scraped past disgraced former president Richard Nixon, the poll revealed

Jeff Farrell
Friday 16 February 2018 20:22 EST
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Comparing Donald Trump and Barack Obama's inaugurations

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Donald Trump has been rated as one of the worst presidents in the US since polls began nearly 75 years ago, with his predecessor Barack Obama one of the most popular, a survey found.

Mr Trump was ranked close to the “terrible” end of a scale of 1 to 10, landing the third spot ahead of only Lyndon Johnson and disgraced Richard Nixon at the bottom, an Ipsos survey found.

Mr Obama was rated 6.15 in the presidential popularity stakes – only beaten to top of the “excellent” end of the scale by Ronald Reagan (6.29) and John F. Kennedy (6.56) in the ranking of presidents who served since the early 1950s.

Voters also said Mr Obama was the president they would choose to be in the White House today, with nearly a third (31 per cent) wishing he was there ahead of Mr Reagan (22 per cent) and Mr Kennedy (16 per cent). Mr Trump rated fourth (9 per cent).

The tycoon president did, however, enjoy near top ranking of support among his own Republican party. He scored a 7.20 ranking behind only Mr Reagan (8.03) and George W. Bush (6.73), according to the survey jointly run by Ipsos and the University of Virginia Center for Politics.

But he bombed among white women, a category that helped edge him into the Oval Office in his shock election win. The group ranked him 3.74, behind only Nixon (3.41).

Mr Obama clinched the highest ranking (8.65) in the rankings of the most popular presidents among his party supporters. He came out ahead of only Bill Clinton (7.19) and Mr Kennedy (7.09) in the results in the online survey answered by more than 1,000 people.

Mr Trump fared miserably in the survey among his White House predecessors ahead of President’s Day in the US this Monday. It is considered a time to celebrate all White House chiefs to date.

Thousands took to the streets on the day last year in rallies across the US against Mr Trump, in a protest by his critics branded “Not My President’s Day”.

It came just a month after the billionaire stepped into Oval Office after his shock election win.

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