US President-elect Donald Trump will begin his term in office on Friday with an approval rating of just 40 per cent, the lowest of any recent president, according to a new poll.

CEOAfrica’s source Press TV reports that just days before his inauguration, Trump's approval rating has dropped 6 points since Election Day on November 8, making it lower than that of the last three US presidents, a CNN/ORC Poll released on Tuesday shows.

Trump’s approval rating is 44 points below that of outgoing President Barack Obama, who had an 84 per cent approval rating when he took office in 2009.

Former US presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush had a 67 per cent and 61 per cent approval rating respectively when they took office.

According to the survey, about 53 per cent of Americans say Trump's statements and actions since he was elected on November 8 have made them less confident in his ability to handle presidential duties.

However, the incoming president dismissed the survey’s results on Tuesday. He tweeted "The same people who did the phony election polls, and were so wrong, are now doing approval rating polls. They are rigged just like before."

The poll found that Americans' impressions of Trump have worsened across three measures since he was elected.

Disapproval of his handling of the presidential transition has increased seven points to 52 per cent, the percentage who think he will do a good job as president has decreased five points, and the share saying they have lost confidence in Trump's ability to be president climbed 10 points.

A Gallup poll released earlier this month found that less than half of Americans were confident that Trump can handle major presidential responsibilities, including dealing with challenging foreign policy matters such as an international crisis or using military force.

Trump was one of the most unpopular candidates ever nominated for president, according to opinion polls. His Democratic opponent in the 2016 presidential election race, Hillary Clinton, also had high unfavourable ratings.

Although Trump defied political experts as well as some historical election patterns in winning the presidency, it appears likely that he will begin his administration with far less support from the American people than other recent presidents have.