U.S. President Donald Trump’s approval rating stands at 40 per cent in a new Washington Post-ABC News poll, slightly more than his 36 per cent approval rating when last measured in January. It’s also the highest he’s enjoyed in Post-ABC polling since his first 100 days in office.

Over half, 56 per cent, disapprove of Trump.

Americans have sharply diverging views of Trump’s handling of the economy and of the president as a person: 46 per cent approve of Trump’s handling of the economy, while 48 per cent disapprove, which has not significantly changed from last fall.

By contrast, 61 per cent say they have an unfavourable view of Trump “as a person,” with almost half saying they are “strongly unfavourable.” Just under a third, 32 per cent, view Trump favourably on a personal level.

Just over one in 10 adults, 11 per cent, say they approve of Trump’s presidency but do not have a favourable view of him personally, either by saying they are unfavourable or offering no opinion.

For this group, both partisanship and views of Trump’s economic plan factor into their approval of his overall job performance. Six in 10 are either Republicans or Republican-leaning independents, and nine in 10 approve of how he has handled the economy.

The public is skeptical that American workers would benefit from a burgeoning trade skirmish with China. Asked if Trump’s announcement of planned tariffs on some imported goods, followed by China’s threat of tariffs on U.S. products, would be good or bad for U.S. jobs, 49 per cent predict it would be bad, while 36 per cent think it would be good. A sizable 15 per cent are unsure.

Overall, Trump has gained ground in approval among several demographic groups that were important in his 2016 campaign. For one, 59 per cent of Americans living in rural areas now approve of his job performance, up 17 points from January and a smaller seven points from last November. Among white rural Americans specifically, his approval is even higher: 65 per cent approve, up from 50 per cent in January.

Trump garners above-water approval among white people, 53 per cent of whom approve of the president, up seven points from January. He does even better among white people without college degrees (60 per cent, up seven points) and white men without college degrees (70 per cent, up six points). Almost three-quarters of conservatives approve of the president in the latest poll, 74 per cent, up nine points from January.

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Trump continues to face overwhelming disapproval from an array of other groups, including 79 per cent of racial and ethnic minorities, 67 per cent of adults under age 30, and 64 per cent of women. Nearly nine in 10 Democrats and more than eight in 10 liberals also disapprove of Trump.

The question of favourability as a person was also asked of presidents George W. Bush and Bill Clinton during their presidencies. Bush fared best, with more than six in 10 reporting favourable personal impressions of him during his first year in office. Clinton’s personal image was far worse when first tested in a 1998 Post-ABC poll amid the Monica Lewinsky scandal; 54 per cent said they had an unfavourable view of the president. Negative personal ratings for Clinton peaked at 67 per cent in 1999, higher than Trump’s current 61 per cent mark, though his image recovered somewhat after leaving office.

While negative personal ratings appear to be a drag for Trump, Clinton’s experiences show that Americans are willing to look past certain concerns in rating a president’s job performance. At that lowest point for Clinton’s personal ratings in March 1999 — a month after Clinton was acquitted of impeachment charges — 30 per cent reported a favourable view of him personally, but 64 per cent approved of his job performance.

The economy was a major reason for the disconnect, with three-quarters of adults approving of Clinton’s handling of the economy in early 1999.

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Trump’s current low personal favourability is met by only slightly higher job approval. One reason is that while 46 per cent of Americans approve of Trump’s handling of the economy, 75 per cent approved of Clinton’s economic stewardship in early 1999.

The Post-ABC poll was conducted April 8-11 among a random national sample of 1,002 adults reached on cell and landline telephones. Overall results have a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3.5 percentage points.

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