Donald Trump will reach a milestone this weekend, passing 100 days in office, traditionally a time to evaluate how a new president is performing.

The US media has cast him as deeply unpopular.

But how do his approval ratings compare to past presidents?

Trump's approval rating is in negative territory

Poll aggregators RealClear Politics and FiveThirtyEight both find that 42 per cent of Americans approve of how Mr Trump is performing his job, compared with 52 per cent who disapprove.

So Mr Trump's net approval rating — the percentage of people who approve of his performance minus those who disapprove — is -10 percentage points, according to the polls.

Lowest in history?

Mr Trump is the only president since polling began to have a net approval rating below zero within his first 100 days in the White House.

Mr Trump's approval rating started low and fell further in his first 100 days.

He is not the only president to experience a declining trend early; most presidents since Lyndon B Johnson in 1969 have seen their net approval fall in the first 100 days in office.

Only John F Kennedy, Dwight D Eisenhower and Ronald Reagan saw their net approval rise in that timeframe.

All the presidents for which there is poll data available did eventually record negative approval ratings — on average just under two years after they took office.

But Bill Clinton and Gerald Ford's approval ratings fell below zero just beyond the 100-day marker: Mr Clinton on day 128 and Mr Ford on day 123.

Low approval and high disapproval

Mr Trump went into office with about 45 per cent of Americans approving of him as president.

Only two other presidents come close to having approval ratings so low at the beginning of their presidency — Ronald Reagan with 51 per cent in 1981 and George W Bush with 46 per cent in 2001.

By the end of the opening acts of their presidencies, George W Bush's approval had lifted to 58 per cent and Ronald Reagan's to 68 per cent, while Mr Trump's approval has fallen slightly to 42 per cent.

But no other president comes close to Mr Trump for disapproval — his disapproval rating of 41 per cent on taking office is a full 23 percentage points higher than his nearest rival, Mr Clinton, on a disapproval rating of 18 per cent.

Most 20th century presidents started office with disapproval ratings in the single digits.

But Trump voters — and Republicans — are satisfied

If you break down Trump's approval ratings based on who people voted for in the presidential election, a starkly different picture emerges.

A Washington Post/ABC News (America) poll taken this month showed that more than nine out of 10 people who voted for Mr Trump approved of his handling of the presidency so far.

The results for Hilary Clinton voters were almost exactly a mirror image.

It's clear voters remain deeply divided on Trump

Fox News polls taken close to the 100-day mark of the Trump and Obama presidencies reveal that presidential approval is deeply partisan.

After 100 days of Barack Obama's presidency, about 90 per cent of Democrat voters approved of him.

After 100 days of Barack Obama's presidency, about 90 per cent of Democrat voters approved of him. And about 90 per cent of Republican voters approve of Mr Trump now.

But a much higher percentage of Democrats disapprove of Mr Trump than Republicans did of Mr Obama at the 100-day mark, which plays a big part in why Mr Trump's overall favourability rating is lower.

About the data