Much has been made about President Donald Trump’s relatively low approval ratings, but Trump has ended his first year in office on par with his predecessor Barack Obama.
A Rasmussen poll released on Thursday put Trump at a 46 percent approval rating and a 53 percent disapproval rating.
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On the same date at the end of Obama’s first year in office — December 28, 2009 — Obama was sitting at a 47 percent approval rate and a 52 percent disapproval rate. Just one day later, on December 29, Obama’s approval rating dropped to 46 percent.
Tracking approval ratings from their inaugurations, Obama had a much longer way to fall to get to his end-of-year approval rating.
On his inauguration day, January 20, 2009, Obama enjoyed 67 percent approval and just 32 percent disapproval. Meanwhile, Rasmussen marked Trump with 56 percent approval and 44 percent disapproval when he was sworn into office on January 20, 2017.
Presidential approval ratings are generally high during inaugurations, and Trump only topped his on January 26, 2017, when he hit 59 percent approval. Obama was never able to beat his inauguration approval rating during the first year of his presidency.