What Happened?

On Tuesday CBS News released survey findings that found President Donald Trump’s approval rating declined to a new low over the last few months.

The new study found that just 36 percent of the 1,117 adults surveyed approved of the job Trump was doing, a new low during his presidency. CBS conducted phone interviews with people all over the United States from June 15 to 18 in order to gather the findings.

Fifty-seven percent of the people polled disapproved of the job he is doing and his approval rating fell from 36 percent, the lowest it has been since he recorded a 39 percent approval rate in February.

CBS found that the most popular reason people cited for their disapproval was Trump’s potential ties to Russia. The second most popular reason was his firing of former FBI Director James Comey amidst an investigation into whether Trump has business ties to Russia and the Russian’s interference in the United States 2016 presidential election. In a statement from the White House on May 9 after he fired Comey Trump, “acted based on the clear recommendations [of the attorney general and deputy attorney general].”

Sixty-three percent of people polled disagreed with his handling of these two issues, while just 28 percent approved.

Other publications track approval and disapproval ratings for the president like Rasmussen Reports, an American polling company based in New Jersey, which found that he had a 48 percent approval rating as of Saturday. Gallup, a consulting company based in Washington, D.C., found that his approval rating was at 38 percent as of Monday. All of the polls surveyed a minimum of 1,100 Americans via phone interviews.

Participants in the CBS poll were also asked questions about issues relating to the United States in general and 39 percent of the people thought the Russian investigation was a critical national security issue while 32 percent thought it was a distraction.