The 10 differences between Trump and Obama after his first year in office

The ever-wise Joni Mitchell once said:

Don't it always seem to go that you don't know what you've got till it's gone?

And it's a question most of the United States of America is probably asking itself - especially following the news that President Donald Trump's approval rating was just 35 percentage points, which is the lowest held by any modern President in December of his first year in office.

The former reality TV star dismissed the data as "fake polls", of course, despite coming from credible pollsters Gallup.

But in contrast, President Obama's approval rating at the same point in Presidency was 15 points higher at 50 per cent.

So, seeing as we're in the market for comparing and contrasting Trump and Obama's first years, here are nine other differences between the 44th and 45th Presidents of the United States.

1. Inauguration.

Sean Spicer may have claimed that Trump drew "the largest crowd to ever witness an inauguration, period," but all you need is a working pair of eyes to realise that this wasn't true, with Obama's crowd dwarfing that of Trump's.

Final estimates had Trump's at somewhere around 600,000, whereas Obama's in his first term totalled as many as 1.8 million.

Plus, Obama had Beyoncé whereas Trump had, urm, Toby Keith.

The scene of Donald Trump's inauguration as US President on January 20 2017 (L) and Barack Obama's first swearing in ceremony in 2009 (Picture:  Reuters (L) Getty (R))

2. Approval rating after first 100 days.

It's not just this month that Obama has out-polled Trump when it comes to approval ratings.

After the first 100 days in his first term, Obama's approval rating soared at 65 - the highest since Ronald Regan - whereas Trump scored a meagre 41 - the lowest of any modern President.

3. The Women's Marches.

On 21 January, Trump was faced with millions of people protesting him around the world in The Women's Marches, in which people stood up for women's rights, LGBT+ rights, workers' rights, freedom of religion, immigration and healthcare in the wake of Trump being sworn in.

Obama was not subjected to marches on the grounds of civil liberties.

4. Golf.

During his eight years as President, Obama played golf 306 times - which led to Trump hounding him relentlessly on Twitter, which should come as no surprise.

But Trump is actually on track to smash Obama's record in just one term.

As of 12 December, Trump was confirmed to have visited a golf course 79 times.

Admittedly, he may not have played a full 18 holes each time, but he was confirmed to have at least his "some balls" on 37 of these visits.

At the same point in his Presidency, Obama had played golf a confirmed 24 times.

The Wall Street Journal also found that Trump spent one-third of his first year in office at one of his own properties, including Mar-a-Lago, his luxury club in Florida where he spent at least 40 days, along with his gold course in Bedminster, where he spent nearly another 40 days.

5. "Getting stuff done".

Trump has claimed to be "getting stuff done" at a record speed in his Presidency - and despite having minimal major legislative victories, he's certainly giving the impression of doing something.

In his first 100 days, Trump signed 29 laws compared to Obama's 14 - although Trumps came in at a total of 133 pages, compared with Obama's 1,602.

In the same time frame, Trump signed 30 executive orders, including two travel bans, while Obama signed 19 executive orders, which included no travel bans.

Obama visited nine countries during his first 100 days, whereas Trump didn't visit any.

He did get invited to the UK for a state visit in 2018, but the less said about that the better.

6. Unemployment.

Again, after his first 100 days, the United States' unemployment rate was at 4.5 per cent, and it looks set to finish the year at around a similar mark, whereas the rate after Obama's first 100 days was at 8.7 per cent.

But, in the interest of fairness, we should probably take into account that Obama had just inherited the worst economic crisis since The Great Depression.

7. Most liked on Twitter.

This is one that must really hurt.

Despite Trump's obvious fondness for Twitter, Obama had two of the top ten most liked tweets in 2017, whereas Trump didn't get anywhere near the top ten.

In fact, Obama's response to the Charlottesville riots was the most-liked tweet of the year with 4.6 million favourites.

Turns out people prefer messages of hope and togetherness rather than comments that inch the world closer and closer to nuclear war.

8. Admiration.

Another Gallup poll in December revealed that Obama was the man Americans admired the most in 2017, with 17 per cent of those surveyed picking the 44th President, compared to 14 per cent who picked Trump.

And on top of that, former First Lady Michelle Obama was number two in the list of women Americans admired the most with seven per cent, behind Hillary Clinton with nine per cent.

First Lady Melania managed to scrape into the top ten with one per cent.

9. Thanksgiving.

Here's where you can really tell the difference between the two men and the kind of legacies they'll leave as President.

For his first thanksgiving as the Commander in Chief, Trump spent it surrounded by family and crystal champagne glasses for a feast at Mar-a-Lago.

Obama, on the other hand, spent his with Michelle and their daughters serving food to those in need.

Picture: MANDEL NGAN/AFP/Getty Images

Here's hoping that by 2020 we'll be able to add another difference to this list - that Obama was a two-term President, and Trump managed only one.

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