Look anywhere and you’ll see it noted that Donald Trump has the lowest job approval rating of any president at this stage in his term. It’s true. Go down Trump’s approval rating in recent surveys: CBS News 39 percent; Gallup 43; Rasmussen 52; Reuters 45; Economist 48; Quinnipiac 38, and on and on. Trump’s current approval rating in the RealClearPolitics average of polls is 44.3 percent approve, 50.3 percent disapprove. Previous presidents at this point in their terms were definitely higher.

There’s no denying Trump’s numbers, but it is reasonable to question whether they say what they seem to say.

According to the RealClearPolitics average, Trump’s personal approval rating was 58.5 percent disapprove, 37.5 percent approve on the day he was elected president. In exit polls that day, 60 percent said they had an unfavorable opinion of Trump, versus 38 percent favorable. A candidate with a disapproval rating around 60 managed to win Florida, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, North Carolina, and other key states on his way to winning 306 electoral votes and the presidency.