WASHINGTON — Americans are giving President Trump low marks as he gets ready to depart the White House.
A new Gallup poll shows the commander-in-chief with a 34-percent job approval rating. He becomes the only president not to register a 50 percent rating at any point during his time in office since Gallup started measuring job approval in 1938.
His 41 percent average is also four points lower than any of his predecessors.
Today is Trump’s last full day in office as president as his term comes to an end Wednesday with President-elect Joe Biden’s inauguration.
Among Trump’s final acts as president: a wave of pardons of many people in prison. The 11th-hour batch of clemency is in keeping with presidential tradition.
President Barack Obama pardoned or commuted the sentences of 330 individuals on the day before he left office, a record number that went mainly to low-level drug offenders serving mandatory sentences.
President George W. Bush was more sparing with his use of pardons and commutations. He commuted the sentences of two border agents as he departed office.
President Bill Clinton drew scrutiny for his pardons and commutations of 140 people on Inauguration Day in 2000, which included high profile donors and political supporters.
