WASHINGTON _ With the public deeply split in its views of President Donald Trump, one potentially key group stands out _ those who dislike the man, but approve of the direction in which he's moving.
That's a central finding of a new nationwide survey by NBC News and the Wall Street Journal.
The new poll confirms what other major surveys have shown: Trump starts his administration with less support than any president in the seven decades of presidential polling. Asked if they approve or disapprove of the job Trump is doing, 44 percent approve, 48 percent disapprove. No previous president has begun his tenure with a net negative job approval.
Trump has held onto the support of his ardent backers. At the other end of the spectrum, he gets almost no approval from Democrats. In the middle, the poll found, are many Americans _ just over a third of those polled _ who either voted for Trump with reservations, voted for a third-party candidate or did not vote at all in 2016.
Just over half of that group gives Trump positive marks, the poll found. Their support is enough, currently, to keep Trump's standing from collapsing, and holding them is likely key to his future.
Just under one-third of Americans say they like Trump and approve of his policies, the poll found. Another one in six approve of most of his policies even though they dislike him. Well over half, 59 percent, said they did not like him personally.
On a separate question, only 43 percent of those surveyed have a positive view of Trump _ up from the low points of the campaign, but still far below the standing of most new presidents.
By contrast, 86 percent agreed with one of the central lines of Trump's inaugural speech, that government insiders had "reaped the rewards of government, while the people have borne the cost."
On other issues, the public is more closely divided. The public splits evenly, for example, on Trump's proposed temporary ban on travel from seven mostly Muslim countries.
Just over half of those surveyed, 52 percent, said that the problems Trump has encountered in his first month were "unique to this administration and suggest real problems"; 43 percent said they were "growing pains" similar to those other administrations have had.
And by 51 percent to 41 percent, the public thinks the media has been too hard on the new administration.
The NBC/WSJ poll, run by a bipartisan team of two polling firms, was taken by phone, using cellphones and landlines, Feb. 18-22 among 1,000 American adults. It has a margin of error for the full sample of 3.1 percentage points in either direction.
