Donald Trump’s transition has a 48 percent approval rate among Americans, equaling its 48 percent disapproval rating. | AP Photo Poll: Trump’s transition has lowest approval rating in decades

Donald Trump’s transition into the White House has the lowest approval rating of any incoming president dating back to 1992, according to a Gallup poll out Wednesday morning.

Trump has made a spectacle of his transition. The billionaire has taken dozens of meetings inside Trump Tower with government officials, business leaders and celebrities, including rapper Kanye West and former Baltimore Ravens linebacker Ray Lewis, as reporters have staked out in the lobby taking note of notable figures who come in and out.


He’s tweeted commentary about prospective Cabinet members and the “great meetings” he’s scheduled, hailed nominees at thank-you rallies across the country and led a true reality TV-style secretary of state search.

In the few weeks since his unexpected victory, Trump has named a handful of senior White House staff but filled out much of his Cabinet, which includes billionaires and millionaires; former GOP presidential rivals; retired generals; and people who, like him, have no government experience.

Democrats have also accused his chief strategist and senior counselor of being a white supremacist and revived decades-old allegations of attorney general nominee Jeff Sessions being racist, accusations that sunk his confirmation hearing for a federal judgeship in 1986.

But while Trump’s transition team maintains the process is going well, Americans are split on how the president-elect is handling his transition into the White House. Trump’s transition has a 48 percent approval rate among Americans, equaling its 48 percent disapproval rating.

This time in 2008, Barack Obama’s transition had a 75 percent approval rating with only 17 percent disapproving. By January 2001 — the first Gallup survey since George W. Bush was officially declared the winner in mid-December despite losing the popular vote to Al Gore — Bush’s transition had an approval rating of 65 percent and disapproval rating of 26 percent. And around this time in 1992, Bill Clinton had a similar approval rating — 67 percent — but with a lower disapproval rate — 15 percent.

Trump’s low transition approval is likely a product of Democrats’ fierce opposition and his struggle among independents. While an overwhelming 86 percent of Republicans approve, only 17 percent of Democrats and 46 percent of independents approve of the real estate mogul’s transition.

Fifty-three percent of Republicans and 75 percent of independents approved of Obama’s transition, 46 percent of Democrats and 59 percent of independents approved of Bush’s, and 50 percent of Republicans and 64 percent of independents approved of Clinton’s.

According to the survey, Trump is also poised to enter the Oval Office with the lowest job approval rating ever recorded by Gallup. Presidents Ronald Reagan in 1981 and George H.W. Bush in 1989 have the lowest initial job approval rating at 51 percent, but Trump could take office with an approval rating in the low 40 percent range if recent historical patterns hold.

The national survey of 1,028 adults was conducted Dec. 7-11 via landlines and cellphones. It has a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points.