Donald Trump starts office with lowest approval rating in modern era: Poll

Trump's approval rating in the Gallup survey opens at 45 per cent

Donald Trump has begun his first days in the White House with the lowest approval rating any US president received in the modern era, according to a new poll.

The first measurement of Trump's job-approval rating showed Americans are divided over his performance in his three days in the Oval Office, the Politico reported.

Trump's approval rating in the Gallup survey, conducted between Friday and Sunday, opens at 45 per cent -- the same percentage of Americans that said they disapprove of Trump's first weekend on the job.

In fact, the billionaire real-estate tycoon began his presidency with the lowest initial approval rating in the modern polling era, according to Gallup.

But while Trump's first approval rating is improved from the poor reviews, Americans gave to his presidential transition, it is also lower than previous presidents -- a sign Trump has entered the White House without the same support from Americans that others have enjoyed.

Trump's predecessor Barack Obama's opening approval rating in January 2009 was 67 per cent, George W Bush's was 57 per cent in 2001, Bill Clinton's was 58 per cent in 1993, George HW Bush's was 51 per cent in 1989 and Ronald Reagan's was also 51 per cent in 1981, the report said.

Jimmy Carter's first approval rating in 1977 was 66 per cent, Richard Nixon's was 59 per cent in 1969, John Kennedy began his presidency in 1961 with a 72-per cent approval rating and Dwight Eisenhower's first approval rating in 1953 was 68 per cent.

Trump's initial approval rating is also lower than the scores for Gerald Ford (71 per cent) and Lyndon Johnson (78 per cent), who entered the Oval Office following - respectively - the resignation and assassination of their predecessors.

Trump's initial approval rating also stands in contrast to Obama's final score before his presidency ended last week: 59 per cent of Americans surveyed between Tuesday and Thursday said they approved of Obama's job performance, though Obama's average approval rating over his eight years averaged to just under 48 per cent.

The Gallup presidential approval poll consists of a three-day rolling sample of interviews with approximately 500 American adults each day.