Donald Trump has the worst approval rating of any US president at this point of their tenure, according to several surveys published yesterday.

The American public seemingly punished the president for a string of controversial executive orders issued in his first 15 days in office.

One survey by broadcaster CBS gave Trump an approval rating of just 40 percent.

Surveys by broadcaster CNN and research institute Gallup were only marginally better, delivering approval ratings of 44 percent and 43 percent, respectively.

Trump is the first president to return negative approval ratings at this point of his presidency, US media reported.

One positive rating was reported by the conservative institute Rasmussen, which had the president at 54 percent.

However, even this was lower than the same institute's surveys of his predecessors, such as Barack Obama, whom the institute had at 61 percent on Feb 3, 2009.

According to CNN, a majority opposed Trump's policies in key areas. The president polled below 50 percent on terrorism, immigration and foreign policy, while six out of 10 respondents opposed his plan to build an anti-migration wall along the Mexican border.

The travel ban imposed by the president on citizens from seven Muslim-majority states also met with disapproval, with 53 percent against.

The surveys also show how divided the country is: 88 percent of Democrat supporters were against the ban, with 88 percent of Republican supporters in favour of it.

One thing united the country, however: 78 percent agreed that President Trump has performed exactly as expected in his first two weeks in office.

- dpa