President-elect Trump's favorability rating is at a new high — but it is still the lowest of any newly elected first-term president, The Hill reported.
Half of those polled in a Bloomberg Politics survey had a positive view of the incoming president, while 43 percent viewed him negatively. The website noted that is up from a 33-63 split in August.
Trump's numbers lag behind any other president's favorability rating around the time of their inaugurations, according to The Hill.
Barack Obama's favorability was 68 percent in November 2008. George W. Bush, despite his bitter recount fight with Al Gore, saw his favorability at 59 percent.
The Hill noted the closest to Trump was Gerald Ford at 50-28 percent after he took over from President Nixon, who resigned in disgrace.
The Bloomberg poll was the first to show a 50 percent favorable mark for Trump in the past two years, the website reported. And most other polls show people still have a more negative view of him than positive.
"He has a challenge no other recent president has had," Gallup pollster Frank Newport told The Hill. "He started from such a low point and the nation is terribly polarized. Unless things change dramatically, he'll be entering the White House with the nation more divided than past presidents have had to deal with."
Normally, Newport said, favorability ratings for new presidents stay on the upswing through inauguration day.
Fox News reported the Bloomberg poll also found 55 percent of respondents were more optimistic about Trump's presidency based on what he has done in the last month.