Poll respondents also indicated they believe the tax bill backed by President Donald Trump will offer benefits to the president and his family. | Olivier Douliery/Getty Images Poll: Trump's approval rating hits historic low of 35 percent

Nearly one year after his inauguration, President Donald Trump’s approval rating sits at 35 percent, according to a new poll released Tuesday by CNN, a historic low for a commander in chief in the December of his first year in office.

The 35 percent approval rating is Trump’s worst mark yet in CNN polling. Fifty-nine percent of respondents said they disapprove of the way Trump has handled his job as president. Before Trump, no president dating back to Dwight Eisenhower ever had an approval rating lower than 49 percent in December of the first year in office.


The RealClearPolitics polling average for Trump’s job approval rating, which does not include the CNN poll released Tuesday, sits at 38 percent.

The tax reform package championed by Trump that is currently nearing completion on Capitol Hill also polled poorly among respondents to the CNN survey. Fifty-five percent of those polled said they oppose the tax reform plan, a 10 percent increase over last month. One in three respondents said they support the measure.

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The tax reform bill has faced stiff opposition from Democrats, who have suggested that it amounts to little more than a tax cut for wealthy Americans that will balloon the deficit. Republicans, poised to pass the measure without any Democratic support, have argued that the bill will stimulate economic growth and make the U.S. more globally competitive by cutting the corporate tax rate.

The poll released Tuesday by CNN seems to indicate that Democratic messaging on the legislation has been more successful. Two-thirds of respondents said they believe the tax bill will benefit the wealthy more than the middle class, while 37 percent told CNN that they believe their family will be worse off if the legislation is signed into law by Trump.

Poll respondents also indicated they believe the tax bill backed by the president will offer benefits to Trump and his family. Sixty-three percent said the legislation will leave Trump and his family better off. The number of respondents who said they disapprove of Trump’s handling of taxes is up 6 points, to 57 percent, relative to a month ago.

The CNN poll, conducted in conjunction with SSRS, was in the field from Dec. 14-17, reaching 1,001 adults nationwide via landlines and cellphones. The poll’s margin of error was plus or minus 3.8 percentage points.