The buses and the polls tell a story: a slew of new polls confirms that for Americans, Donald Trump is not the best thing since sliced bread and for each bus registering for parking space in DC for Friday's inauguration, more than four have registered on Saturday, when hundreds of thousands are expected to attend an anti-Trump protest.

Sad!

Struggling to get the usual A-list performers, Trump's inauguration planners are resorting to un-Trumplike expectations – the "all-about-me" President-elect wants the celebration to be "about the people, not about him"; and he wants "a much more poetic cadence than having a circus-like celebration".

So cutting their cloth to fit, they're working with what they've got, claiming to be "fortunate in that we have the greatest celebrity in the world, which is the President- elect".

But the new polls are hardly celebratory.

Confirming Trump's historic standing as the least popular incoming president in history, separate polls for CNN and The Washington Post put his approval rating at just 40 per cent – compared with Barack Obama's 84 per cent in 2009. And a Monmouth poll is even worse, putting Trump's approval at just 34 per cent.

And there's little for Trump to boast of when the polls drill down on issues.

While voter expectations are high for his handling of the economy, trade and terrorism, the proverbial hits the fan on a range of other policies – the Mexican border wall, 60-37 against; tax cuts for big earners, 61-36 against; withdrawing from the Paris climate deal, 56-31 against; junking the Iran nuclear deal, 46-37 against; banning non-citizen Muslims from entering the US, 63-32 against; and even on the vexed fate of Obamacare, Trump is in front by just a single point – 47-46.

Not surprisingly, the polls provoked a tweeted snarl from Trump Tower – "The same people who did the phony election polls, and were so wrong, are now doing approval rating polls. They are rigged just like before".

No surprise either that if Trump's approval is half of Obama's as incoming president, crowd expectations for his inauguration are halved too – officials expect 800,000 to 900,000 to attend Friday's event, compared with the estimated 1.8 million who turned out for Obama in 2009.

And based on the bus parking figures – 400 for inauguration day and 1800 for Saturday's inaccurately dubbed the Million Women march –more than the previously anticipated 200,000 protesters will turn out. More that 30 groups have also sought permits to protest against Trump on inauguration day.

Bookings at Washington hotels are picking up – but only after many reduced their minimum stays from four to two nights.

Many hotels report they are only half-filled and even some of the celebrities who originally signed on to perform at various inauguration events over three days of planned festivities are cancelling.

As a purveyor of fake news, Trump can't even get a fake band to show up.

The legendary Bruce Springsteen was never an option – he sings for the Clintons – but the B Street Band, a popular Springsteen cover band, agreed to perform and then withdrew, citing its respect for Springsteen's opposition to Trump.

Elton John, Celine Dion and the rock band Kiss all say they rebuffed Trump requests to perform.

Tony Award-winning singer Jennifer Holliday cancelled, after apologising for a lapse of judgment that was a "betrayal" of her gay and lesbian fans.

Welsh singer Charlotte Church tweeted on Tuesday that Trump's "staff have asked me to sing at your inauguration [but] a simple internet search would show I think you're a tyrant".

Rebecca Ferguson, another British performer, also declined, saying she would perform only if she could sing Billie Holiday's Strange Fruit, a powerful protest against racism and the lynching of African Americans.

The big-name line-up, at this stage, is limited to the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, the Radio City Rockettes, classical singer Jackie Evancho who was the 2010 runner-up on NBC's America's Got Talent, rockers 3 Doors Down and country stars Toby Keith and Lee Greenwood.

Trump has raised a record $US90 million ($120 million) in corporate donations for just three days of celebrations, compared to as many as five days by some of his predecessors – this week there will be just three inauguration balls, compared to 14 for Bill Clinton.

And Trump's traditional parade down Pennsylvania Avenue will be more of a dash to the White House, taking a planned 90 minutes instead of the more typical four hours of greet and meet.

Early plans for a flashier program have been abandoned. They reportedly included a parade on New York's Fifth Avenue, after which Trump was to fly to Washington by helicopter; and what was described as a grand unfurling of ceremonial flags as the Trump procession passed his hotel on Pennsylvania Avenue.

Ranging from $US25,000 to $US1 million or more for individuals and corporations, donors are to get access to Trump and his inner circle – $US100,000 reportedly buys two tickets for dinner and a policy discussion with select cabinet appointees; $US250,000, gets two tickets to a lunch with women of the first family; and for $1 million, they'll get four tickets to a lunch with cabinet appointees and congressional leaders and four tickets to a dinner with Vice-President Mike Pence and his wife, Karen.

Last week, Trump promised an inauguration that would be "very, very special, very beautiful" and predicted "massive crowds".