President-elect Donald Trump's favorability rating has increased since the election, but he still lags behind previous presidents-elect, according to a new Gallup poll.
- Pre-election: 34 percent;
- Post-election: 42 percent.
Gallup notes that this is Trump's highest rating since 2011, and that recent presidents-elect were rated favorably by at least 58 percent.
In 2005, during the height of "The Apprentice," half of all Americans held a favorable view of the billionaire.
Among groups, Trump does best with the GOP or the unaffiliated, but does not perform well with Democrats, although his ranking with each group has gone up since Election Day.
- Republicans: 71 percent;
- Independents: 32 percent;
- Democrats: 5 percent.
Compared to the poll released Thursday:
- Republicans: 82 percent;
- Independents: 39 percent;
- Democrats: 10 percent.
Recent presidents-elect, including Barack Obama, George W. Bush and Bill Clinton, all performed better than Trump in favorability following their elections.
- Obama: 68 percent;
- Bush: 59 percent;
- Clinton: 58 percent.
"Trump, like his predecessors, will have to govern a nation that is divided politically," Gallup's Jeffrey M. Jones writes. "But Trump's challenge may be even greater, because the nation is arguably more divided than when his predecessors took office, perhaps as evidenced by several days of protests nationwide after his election.
"Trump also has far less public goodwill than Obama, Bush and Clinton did after they were elected. He won the election despite a historically low favorability rating and is the first candidate to win with a lower favorable rating than his opponent."