According to the poll, 53% of 1,002 respondents said they disapproved of the way Trump is handling his job as president. Forty-four percent approve of Trump and 3% reportedly have no opinion.
Both opponents and supporters of Trump have strong feelings towards the president, as the vast majority of both groups either approve or disapprove of Trump "strongly." Only 12% of supporters and 9% of opponents of Trump's policies said they feel "moderately" about them.
However, Trump's actions were not unexpected for the majority of respondents, as 78% said Trump's presidency so far went "as expected," and only 21% admitted Trump's policies went an "unexpected way."
In terms of specific parts of Trump's policies, nearly half of respondents favored the way he is handling the economy and national security (49% approval for both). Terrorism, health care, immigration and foreign affairs policies have yet to receive national support.
It is worth mentioning that the gap between supporters and opponents of each policy is quite small and stays within an 8% margin. For example, Trump's immigration policy received the strongest disapproval rating — 56% — which is the biggest deviation from the 50% middle line.
The difference remains pretty much the same in regard to the executive order that bans people of seven Muslim countries from entering US territory: 53% of respondents oppose the order while 47% support it.
More than half of the respondents (55%) perceive the order as a "ban on Muslims" while only 44% separate the travel ban from a ban on the whole religion.
Support for the idea of building a 2,000 mile-long fence on the US-Mexican border was surveyed back in 2006, 10 years before Trump talked about it as a presidential candidate. Back in 2006, 45% supported the idea while 50% opposed. This figure looks interesting in connection with the CNN/ORC poll results.
In its report on the poll, CNN underscores that Trump's early approval rating is the lowest since this survey started under President Dwight Eisenhower back in 1953. Ronald Reagan held the previous dubious record for lowest support this early in his presidency, with 51% support in 1981.
However, it should be noted that relying on polls might be risky. During the 2016 presidential campaign, polls indicated that Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton had secured a majority of supporters. However, Trump repeatedly referred to the so-called "silent majority" that did not take part in the polls but would cast votes in the election.
It is also worth mentioning that former President Barack Obama's early approval rating was 76%, the highest in this poll's history.
