Donald Trump latest approval rating and impeachment odds
Donald Trump's Presidential approval rating continues to worsen after it emerged he is under investigation for a possible obstruction of justice.
Robert Mueller, the special counsel appointed to examine Russia’s role in the presidential election, is now reportedly directly examining the behaviour of the President as well members of his wider campaign team.
This latest development comes after a friend of Trump said that the President was considering firing Mueller from this role, just months after firing ex-FBI chief James Comey over the Russia investigation.
Trump's first months as president have seen persistent allegations over Russian connections, tirades against the media, a failure to push through healthcare reform, a shift to a more proactive foreign policy, and attempts to create manufacturing jobs in the US.
When he assumed office, the billionaire businessman, TV star and now 45th US president also enjoyed the lowest approval rating of any recent president – and these ratings haven't got any better.
At the 100-day milestone, Gallup daily polling showed that just 40 per cent of Americans approved of the way Trump is handling his new job – compared to 55 per cent that disapprove.
Historically, it has usually taken American presidents hundreds of days before they reach a majority disapproval rating.
This has been the case for the last five presidents – with Bill Clinton lasting a record 573 days before more than 50 per cent of Americans disapproved of his presidency.
But Donald Trump smashed this record after surging into the White House on a wave of anti-establishment anger.
It took just eight days for him to gain a majority disapproval rating, according to Gallup, with 51 per cent of Americans saying they disapproved of the President on January 28, 2016.
The sacking of James Comey - apparently over the FBI's investigation into the Trump camp's pre-election links with Russia - has accelerated Trump's approval rating decline, standing at 39 per cent according to the latest average.
What are the latest impeachment odds for Trump?
The Comey sacking episode has raised serious questions in the US over whether the president, in getting rid of the ex-FBI chief, was committing an obstruction of justice.
The idea of impeachment has started to be uttered by legal experts as well as by Al Green, a Democrat congressman from Texas.
As it stands impeachment is still unlikely because it would require a majority in the House of Representatives to go to trial and a two-thirds majority in the Senate to make it happen.
Both the House and the Senate currently under Republican control, meaning that Trump's party would have to abandon him for him to be kicked out of office.
However, the bookmakers are banking on things getting worse for Trump with the latest odds from Ladbrokes showing that he is more likely than not to fail to make it to the end of his first term in office.
Their latest odds are as follows:
- Impeachment or resignation before 2020: 8/11 (58 per cent chance)
- To serve full first term: Evens (50 per cent chance)