Poll-Axed (UPDATED)

Let's hope this "Voyage to the Bottom of the Polls" becomes a regular feature.

CNN/ORC:

Donald Trump will become president Friday with an approval rating of just 40%, according to a new CNN/ORC Poll, the lowest of any recent president and 44 points below that of President Barack Obama, the 44th president. 

Following a tumultuous transition period, approval ratings for Trump's handling of the transition are more than 20 points below those for any of his three most recent predecessors. Obama took the oath in 2009 with an 84% approval rating, 67% approved of Clinton's transition as of late December 1992 and 61% approved of George W. Bush's transition just before he took office in January 2001.

Trump's wobbly handling of the presidential transition has left most Americans with growing doubts that the President-elect will be able to handle the job. About 53% say Trump's statements and actions since Election Day have made them less confident in his ability to handle the presidency, and the public is split evenly on whether Trump will be a good or poor president (48% on each side).  [snip] 

Across all three of these measures, Americans' impressions of Trump have worsened since November. In that time, disapproval of his handling of the transition has climbed seven points to 52%, the percentage who think he'll do a good job has dropped five points, and the share saying they have lost confidence in Trump's ability to be president grew 10 points. (our emphasis)

Once again: There. Is. No. Mandate.

The next time you hear Cheeto Benito or one of his flunkies say "The American people don't care about Mr. Trump's taxes," you may quote this poll by ABC News/ Washington Post:

Americans divide evenly on whether the incoming Trump administration is complying with ethics laws. And while a bare majority in a new ABC News/Washington Post poll accepts President-elect Donald Trump’s business ownership plan, three-quarters say he should release his tax returns. 

Contrary to his comment that the American public doesn’t care about the issue, four in 10 of those polled say they care “a lot” about Trump releasing his tax records. (our emphasis)

Give those numbers on ethics compliance time to marinate;  beyond the ongoing personal corruption of the Donald J. Trump "Greatest Shitshow on Earth," you have his Cabinet of plutocrats, weasels and deplorables that are already being accused of violating the law (see post below) or are dragging their feet on making required financial disclosures.  Expect one or two nominees to be unable to bluff their way past these concerns (or hit the silk before further damage is done).

UPDATE: And there's more good news (NBC News/ Wall Street Journal):

As Republicans get closer to repealing it, President Barack Obama's federal health-care law – or Obamacare – has never been more popular, according to results from a new national NBC News/Wall Street Journal survey. 

And half of Americans – 50 percent – say they have little to no confidence that Republican proposals to replace the law will make things better. 

The poll finds 45 percent of respondents believing that the health-care law is a good idea, which is the highest percentage here since the NBC/WSJ poll began asking the question in April 2009. (our emphasis)

UPDATE II:  Cheeto Benito didn't like the polls, so of course he took to Twitter;  here are the twit's tweet and some of the responses.  What a thin- skinned, childish narcissist.