US President Donald Trump meets with business leaders in the Roosevelt Room at the White House in Washington, DC, on January 23, 2017. (NICHOLAS KAMM/AFP/Getty Images)

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MIAMI (CBSMiami) – President Donald Trump is beginning his term as the United States’ Commander in Chief behind the proverbial ‘8 ball’ with the American people.

In a new Quinnipiac University poll, President Trump received only a 36-percent approval rating from American voters. Forty percent gave him negative marks while 19-percent were undecided.

By comparison, President Barack Obama scored a 59-percent approval rating in his first post-inaugural poll, with 25-percent of voters disapproving of him.

Breaking down Trump’s rankings, 81-percent of Republicans gave him positive marks, only three percent disapprove. When it came to Democrats, 77-percent disapproved while four percent gave him the thumbs up.

On gender lines, he received 41-percent approval from men, while 38-percent disapproved. Women voters were not as positive, only 33-percent gave positive marks, while 50-percent disapproved.

White voters gave him an approval of 43-percent, while 40-percent disapproved. Non-white voters disapproved by a margin of 55 – 20 percent.

When it came to the next four years, 53-percent expressed optimisitc, while 43-percent said things will get worse. By a margin of 44 – 36 percent voters said they felt President Trump would help rather than hurt the nation’s economy.

When it came to his predecessor, 50-percent said President Trump will be a worse president than Barack Obama, while 37-percent say he will be a better president.

Only 18-percent said Trump will be a “great” president; 25 percent say he will be a “good” president; 16 percent say he will be “not so good” and 36 percent say he will be “bad.”

“Stumbling out of the blocks, President Donald Trump is considered a divider not a uniter, flunking on honesty, empathy and level headedness, while his predecessor sees his legacy burnished by better and better numbers every polling cycle,” said Tim Malloy, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Poll. “But voters are optimistic in general and confident he will help the economy.”

Looking at Trump’s personal qualities, American voters say:

56 – 39 percent that he is not honest.

49 – 46 percent that he has good leadership skills

53 – 44 percent that he does not care about average Americans

62 – 33 percent that he is not level-headed

68 – 29 percent that he is a strong person

65 – 32 percent that he is intelligent

Fifty five percent of voters said they felt Trump will do more to divide the country, rather than unite the nation.

Best/Worst President

So who did they pick as the best president in the last 70 years?

Ronald Reagan scored the highest with 30-percent of the vote, Barack Obama was right behind with 29-percent.

John F. Kennedy came in third with 12-percent followed by Bill Clinton (9-percent).

Dwight Eisenhower and George W. Bush each received 3-percent.

There was 2-percent each for Harry Truman, Lyndon Johnson, Jimmy Carter and George H.W. Bush and less than 1 percent for Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford.

The Quinnipiac University poll was conducted from January 20th – 25th, it has a margin of error of +/- 2.8 percentage points.