As Donald Trump prepares to take oath as US President on January 20, over half of Americans are sceptical about his ability to handle an international crisis, to use military force wisely or to prevent major scandals in his administration, according to a new poll released on Monday.

In comparison, at least seven in 10 Americans were confident in Barack Obama, George W. Bush and Bill Clinton in these areas before they took office, Xinhua news agency quoted a Gallup poll as saying.

Forty-six per cent of respondents are confident Trump can handle an international crisis, 47 per cent believe he will use military force wisely, while 44 per cent think he can prevent major scandals in his administration, the poll shows.

However, Americans express somewhat more confidence in Trump to work effectively with Congress (60 per cent), to handle the economy effectively (59 per cent), to defend US interests abroad as President (55 per cent), and to manage the executive branch effectively (53 per cent), said Jeffrey M. Jones, a poll analyst with the Gallup.

But even in these areas, Americans are far less confident in Trump than they were in his predecessors, when comparisons are available, Jones said.

The results for Trump are based on a December 7-11 Gallup poll conducted via telephone interviews, with a random sample of 1,028 adults, aged 18 and older, living in all 50 US states and the District of Columbia.

The poll results are consistent with prior Gallup polling showing Trump having a much lower favourable rating than prior President-elects and a much lower approval rating for how he has handled his presidential transition.

The poll’s margin of sampling error is ±4 percentage points at the 95 per cent confidence level. All reported margins of sampling error include computed design effects for weighting.