Donald Trump has dismal approval ratings for an incoming president

And in furtherance to that statistical fact, a new Quinnipiac poll shows Trump receives absolutely dismal approval ratings for an incoming president.

Trump starts out with an approval rating of 37%, a new Quinnipiac poll finds:https://t.co/t4XUBOjo60 pic.twitter.com/6WG12faRGz

— Greg Sargent (@ThePlumLineGS) January 10, 2017

To put that 37 percent rating in context, in 2009, Gallup compared Barack Obama’s approval rating as he took office to that of all eight presidents preceding him and following World War II:

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No recent incoming president has received an approval rating anywhere close to Trump’s low numbers. But no recent president has entered office dogged by the multitude of conflicts, controversies, and questions of character which Trump will drag along with him into the Oval Office.

The Quinnipiac poll also shows that 51 percent of respondents have an unfavorable opinion of Trump; 45 percent believe he will be a “worse” president than Obama; 53 percent do not consider him to be an honest person; and 54 percent believe he will “do more to divide the country” as President.

But most importantly, the final question of the poll asks, “Does the election of Donald Trump make you feel more safe, less safe, or just as safe as you did before?”

45 percent of the total respondents answered “less safe.”

One of the main elements of the job of President of the United States is to safeguard the nation and its citizens from threats both within and beyond our borders, from dangers of all kinds — terrorist attacks to natural disasters to, as one former president memorably said, the threat of fear itself.

When a large portion of the electorate believes that their president will not keep them safe from harm, it bodes extremely ill for the future.

And if Trump continues to be the same loser as President as he has been since the election, all of us will lose, as well.