Trump admin gets lowest-ever ethics ratings in Gallup poll

Thirty-seven percent of Americans rate the Trump administration as having good or excellent ethical standards, according to a Gallup poll released Thursday, the lowest rating given to a White House since the poll started asking the question during the Reagan administration.

Fifty-nine percent of Americans said in the poll that Trump administration officials’ ethics are poor or not good

The majority of Americans have largely given past administrations positive ethics ratings.

The previous low was during the Clinton administration, when only 43 percent of Americans said White House officials’ ethics were excellent or good.{mosads}

Gallup noted that the rating was given in January 1994, amid the Whitewater real estate scandal. That rating rose to 57 percent just a few months later.

Fifty percent of Americans gave the ethical standards of former President Obama’s administration an excellent or good rating during the June of 2013.

Top Trump administration officials have seen intense scrutiny over their ethics over the past year.

Environmental Protection Agency Administration Scott Pruitt is facing a series of investigations after it was revealed that he rented a condo co-owned by the wife of a then-lobbyist for $50 a night and used taxpayer-funded security details on trips to the Rosebowl and Disneyland.

He also used taxpayer dollars to purchase first-class tickets on flights, citing security threats, but Democratic lawmakers cast doubt on the severity of those threats.

Former Secretary of Veterans Affairs David Shulkin was fired earlier this year after a VA inspector general report found that he misused government resources by accepting Wimbledon tickets and used taxpayer dollars to pay for his wife’s airfare when he took an official trip to Europe last year.

And former Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price resigned last year after facing intense criticism for taking private jets for official business.

Other Cabinet-level officials including Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke and Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin have also been sharply criticized for their taxpayer-funded travel expenses. 

President Trump himself is at the center of multiple controversies, including lawsuits from an adult film star and a former Playboy playmate over allegations of affairs and legal challenges to the profits he collects from Trump properties while also serving as commander in chief.

Gallup conducted phone interviews with 1,024 Americans from May 1 – 10 and has a margin of error of 4 percentage points.