CNN reported that Trump is the only president to hold a net negative rating this early in a presidency. However, the vast majority of respondents, 78 percent, say Trump is handling the presidency as they would have expected.
The network compared Trump's ratings to past presidents, noting that Ronald Reagan's first approval rating measured at 51 percent from Gallup in 1981 — 7 points above Trump's rating in the CNN poll — but Reagan's disapproval number was far lower than Trump's at just 13 percent, compared to Trump's 53 percent.
George W. Bush, the last president to be elected without winning the popular vote, also held a more positive approval rating at 57 percent in February of his first year in office.
The CNN poll of 1,002 adults was conducted Jan. 31 to Feb. 2 via landlines and cellphones with an overall margin of error of 3 percentage points.