The following article by Jonathan D. Salant was posted on the AlterNet website April 15, 2017:
Less than 4 in 10 U.S. voters approve of President Donald Trump’s performance in office.
They also expressed dissatisfaction with the way Trump was handling foreign policy, said the country’s international role was diminished under his administration, and said they had little or no trust in the president to make the right decision in an international crisis.
“As tensions mount, President Trump is facing a critical test as Commander in Chief,” said Lee Miringoff, director of the Marist College Institute for Public Opinion. “Instead of a rally ’round the flag effect, Americans are still looking for President Trump to provide leadership and more careful planning to arrive at sound policies.”
Here are five takeaways from the poll.
1. Trump remains unpopular.
Trump’s job approval rating among registered voters was just 39 percent, with 49 percent disapproving. The numbers have remained constant since the president took office; his job approval rating was 41 percent positive and 49 percent negative in February.
A majority, 54 percent said they had an unfavorable opinion of the president while just 38 percent viewed him favorably. Again, that was largely unchanged from February.
2. So does his handling of foreign policy.
Forty percent of voters approved and 49 percent disapproved.
This came at time at a time when more than 7 in 10 voters, 72 percent, said tensions were rising around the world, compared with just 21%
3. Doing the wrong thing.
Majorities of U.S. voters had little trust in Trump to do the right thing in international affairs.
Asked about making the right decision, 55 percent said they had little or no trust in Trump, while 42 percent said they had a great deal or good amount.
Regarding weighing all options before taking action, 58 percent said they had little or no trust that he would do so, while 39 percent said they had a great deal of trust or a good amount.
And 55 percent said they had little or no trust that Trump would come up with a sound strategy, compared with 42 percent who had a great or good amount of trust.
4. A lack of confidence at the top.
Asked whether Trump should be considered a good leader, 54 percent of registered voters said no and 41 percent said yes.
More than twice as many, 38 percent, strongly disagreed with that characterization as strongly agreed, 16 percent.
A majority of voters, 52 percent said they had little or no confidence in Trump’s ability to keep the U.S. safe, while 47 percent said they had either a great deal or a good amount of confidence in the president to do so.
5. What should be done about Syria?
Six in 10 U.S. voters said Trump did not have a clear idea of what he wanted to do in Syria. Just one-third, 33 percent, said he did.
Even so, 58 percent supported the limited air strikes in response to Syria’s use of chemical weapons while 33 percent opposed them. In 2013 under President Barack Obama, just 32 percent favored bombing Syria compared with 58 percent who opposed such actions.
Just 21 percent said the U.S. should actively work to depose Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, while 71 percent said the U.S, should either support his removal without doing anything about it, or should not be involved at all.
Sixty percent said Syria posed either a minor threat or no threat at all to the U.S. Just 36 percent said the Arab nation was a serious threat.
The poll of 869 registered voters was conducted April 11-12 and had a margin of error of 3.3 percentage points.
View the post here.