Donald Trump’s approval rating reaches new low after Charlottesville response

Donald Trump’s approval rating has hit a new low the week after violence erupted at a white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, according to a new poll.

Only 39 per cent of US voters approve of the job the US President is doing, according to the Politico/Morning Consult poll. One week ago, his approval rating was at 44 per cent.

Fifty-six per cent of the 1,987 registered voters polled disapprove of the President's job performance, compared to 52 per cent last week.

One woman was killed and dozens injured when a man with views sympathetic to neo-Nazis deliberately drove a car into a crowd of anti-fascist protesters in Charlottesville, Virginia, on 12 August.

In the aftermath, Mr Trump blamed “many sides” for the violence, which was widely condemned for equating anti-fascist protesters with neo-Nazis.

“We condemn in the strongest possible terms this egregious display of hatred, bigotry and violence on many sides, on many sides,” Mr Trump said in an initial brief statement from his golf club in New Jersey.

The President defended his response to Charlottesville during a rally in Phoenix, Arizona earlier this week, but omitted his previous comments about the "many sides" involved.

The recent poll found 37 per cent of people surveyed think Trump’s reaction to the violence in Virginia was appropriate.

It also found 43 per cent believe white nationalist protesters should be blamed for the clashes in Charlottesville.

The poll was carried out between Thursday 17 and Saturday 19 August.