By Jonathan D. Salant | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com

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Just 10 months into his first term, more than four in 10 Americans say President Donald Trump may go down in history as one of the worst chief executives in U.S. history, according to a survey by the Marist College Institute for Public Opinion.

In the poll, 42 percent said Trump will be remembered as one of the worst presidents ever, while another 16 percent said he will be considered a below-average chief executive. Just 7 percent said he will go down in history as one of the best ever to occupy the Oval Office and another 11 percent said he will be considered above average.

Almost one in five, or 19 percent, said Trump will be considered an average president.

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President Donald Trump in the Oval Office. (Olivier Douliery | Abaca Press/TNS)

“Deep into his first year as president, Donald Trump’s less than stellar approval rating has lowered expectations about how history will judge him,” said Lee Miringoff, director of the poll institute. “For history to treat him kinder, he will have to up his game.”

Here's why history may view Trump so dimly.

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1. Low job approval ratings

Trump's job approval rating is 37 percent, with 55 percent disapproving of his performance in office. More than twice as many Americans, 43 percent, strongly disapprove of the job he is doing than the 19 percent who strongly approve.

Trump's third-quarter job approval rating in the Gallup poll was 36.9 percent, the lowest ever recorded for any president from mid-July to mid-October of his first year in office. The previous low was 47.7 percent for Bill Clinton in 1993.

No other president dating back to Dwight Eisenhower in 1953 was below 50 percent.

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President Donald Trump speaks during a news conference in the Rose Garden of the White House. (AP Photo | Carolyn Kaster)

2. He's unfit to be president

When the Quinnipiac University poll asked voters last month, "Is Trump fit to be president," the answer came back, "No," by 56 percent to 42 percent.

That sentiment hasn't change. In this month's Quinnipiac survey, Trump was deemed unfit by 55 percent, with 43 percent disagreeing.

In addition, 56 percent of voters said Trump was not honest, while 49 percent said he was.

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3. Unpopular policies

Six in 10 Americans in a CNN poll said Trump and Congress should work on improving the current health care law rather than looking to repeal and replace it. By 60 percent to 34 percent, they disapproved of the way Trump was handling health care.

Trump's tax plan, which includes repealing the federal deduction for state and local taxes, was rejected by 52 percent of adults, with 34 percent backing it. Half of respondents disapproved of the way he was handling the tax issue, with just 36 percent in support.

And two-thirds of Americans, 67 percent, said the U.S. should not pull out of the deal that curbs Iran's nuclear program for more than a decade in exchange for lifting economic sanctions, while only 27 percent supported withdrawing, as Trump has threatened to do.

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President Donald Trump speaks during a meeting at the White House. (AP Photo | Evan Vucci)

4. Concerns about Russian ties

As Congress and Special Counsel Robert Mueller continue to investigate possible ties between the Trump presidential campaign and Russian officials, 55 percent of Americans surveyed by Marist said they believed the president has done something either illegal or unethical. Just 35 percent said Trump did nothing wrong.

Six in 10 Americans said Trump campaign officials acted illegally or unethically concerning Russia, with 30 percent saying there was nothing untoward.

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Workers of firm involved with the discredited and Fake Dossier take the 5th. Who paid for it, Russia, the FBI or the Dems (or all)? — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 19, 2017

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5. Too much Twitter

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"46% of Americans think the Media is inventing stories about Trump & his Administration." @FoxNews It is actually much worse than this! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 19, 2017

So much Fake News being put in dying magazines and newspapers. Only place worse may be @NBCNews, @CBSNews, @ABC and @CNN. Fiction writers! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 17, 2017

More than two-thirds of Americans in the Marist poll, 69 percent, said his tweets were reckless and distracting, while just 21 percent called them effective and informative.

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The Marist poll of 1,093 U.S. adults was conducted Oct. 15-17 and had a margin of error of 3 percentage points. The CNN survey of 1,010 adults was conducted Oct. 12-15 and had a margin of error of 3.5 percentage points. The Quinnipiac poll of 1,482 registered voters was conducted Oct. 5-10 and had a margin of error of 3 percentage points.

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Jonathan D. Salant may be reached at jsalant@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @JDSalant or on Facebook. Find NJ.com Politics on Facebook.