President Trump Donald John TrumpFederal prosecutor speaks out, says Barr 'has brought shame' on Justice Dept. Former Pence aide: White House staffers discussed Trump refusing to leave office Progressive group buys domain name of Trump's No. 1 Supreme Court pick MORE’s approval rating has dropped for the first time in recent months as public perception of the U.S. economy under his presidency begins to weaken, according to a new CNN poll.

Forty percent of respondents said they approve of the way Trump is handling his job as president. The majority — 54 percent — said they disapprove, while 6 percent gave no opinion.

His positive approval rating had held steady at 43 percent in the CNN poll since the week of April 25.

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The president, a former New York real estate mogul, made the economy a key pillar of his 2016 campaign and has predicted that it would “go down the tubes” if he loses his reelection bid in 2020

The CNN poll released on Wednesday also showed the first significant decline in public perception of the economy during Trump's time in the White House.

Almost two-thirds of Americans — 65 percent — responded that current economic conditions are good, a 5-point drop from when the same question was asked in a May.

The drop comes as fear that the United States could enter into a recession next year grows.

A third of economists expect the world’s largest economy to enter a recession in 2020, also expressing concerns that Trump’s tariffs and higher budget deficits cause additional blows.

The CNN poll was conducted by SSRS Aug. 15–18 among a random national sample of 1,001 adults. Results for the full sample have a margin of sampling error of 3.7 percentage points.