David M Jackson

USA TODAY

At this point at least, many voters don't have much confidence in Donald Trump's presidential abilities, a new poll says.

Trump "will be a worse president than Barack Obama, 45% of voters say, while 34% he will be a better president and 15% percent say he will be about the same, according to the Quinnipiac University Poll released Tuesday.

Trump enters office on Jan. 20 with a favorable rating of 37%, the poll said; Obama exits the White House with an approval rating of 55%.

"President Barack Obama leaves the White House a lot more popular than Donald Trump is as he crosses the threshold and saddles up for the most important job in the world," said Tim Malloy, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Poll.

He added: "President-elect Trump gets points for strength and intelligence, but voters' feelings about his personality traits, empathy, leadership and level-headedness, are headed south."

The national poll of 899 voters was conducted Jan. 5-9 and had a 3.3-point margin of error.

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