Voters in the US gave Donald Trump the thumbs-down in a new poll this week, which recorded a near-record low approval rating for the President.

The telephone poll of 1,078 voters, conducted by Quinnipiac University, recorded a big decline in approval of Trump, particularly among white voters with no college degree, white men and independent voters.

Among the questions respondents were asked was: "What is the first word that comes to mind when you think of Donald Trump?"

The pollsters released a list of responses, giving only the words that were mentioned at least five times. Of those, 30 were negative, while just 16 were positive.

Among the positive terms that made the list were 'leader' (said by 25 people), 'strong' (21) 'business' and 'successful' (11 each).

The most regularly picked word was 'idiot' (said by 39 people), followed by 'incompetent' (31), 'liar' (30) and 'unqualified' (25).

The full list is as follows:

Overall, 58 per cent of respondents said they had an unfavourable opinion of Trump, while 35 per cent said favourable.

In a survey a month earlier, 56 per cent had reported an unfavourable opinion of Trump, 39 per cent favourable.

"There is no way to spin or sugarcoat these sagging numbers," said Tim Malloy, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Poll.

"The erosion of white men, white voters without college degrees and independent voters, the declaration by voters that President Donald Trump's first 100 days were mainly a failure and deepening concerns about Trump's honesty, intelligence and level headedness are red flags that the administration simply can't brush away."