Trump’s presidential approval rating hits a record low as Russia scandal swirls

Donald Trump’s approval rating has plunged in a national poll, published on Sunday, that charts Americans’ perceptions of a stalling domestic policy agenda and declining leadership on the world stage.

The Washington Post/ABC News poll, which put Trump’s six-month presidential approval rating at a historic 70-year low, came amid mounting controversy over Russian interference in the 2016 election.

It emerged on Saturday that Trump’s campaign committee made a payment to the legal firm representing the president’s eldest son almost two weeks before a meeting between Trump Jr and a Russian lawyer promising compromising information on Hillary Clinton was made public.

Trump now has a 36 per cent approval rating, down six points from his first 100 days’ rating. That is the lowest rating, six months into the tenure of any US president, since such polling began in 1945.

The poll found that 48 per cent believed America’s leadership in the world is weaker than before the billionaire took office, while support for Republican plans to replace Barack Obama’s Affordable Care Act was at just 24 per cent compared with 50 per cent who support Obama’s signature healthcare policy.

Trump, who has spent the weekend at his private golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey, attempted to downplay the poll’s findings. On Sunday morning he used Twitter to claim that “almost 40% is not bad at this time” and that the poll in question had been “just about the most inaccurate around election time!”.