Poll: Trump approval bumps up slightly to 40 percent
A new Quinnipiac poll finds that a majority of voters continue to hold a negative view of President Trump’s performance as commander-in-chief, with 40 percent approving and 56 percent disapproving.
This is a small positive bump for Mr. Trump, who garnered only 35 percent approval in another Quinnipiac survey two weeks ago, worse than Obama’s personal low of 38 percent back in 2013.
Among both men and women, the president’s approval numbers have improved but remain negative: up seven points to 46 percent approval among men, and up three points to 34 percent approval among women. The levels of disapproval among both groups—50 and 62 percent, respectively—hardly changed.
Most voters still hold President Trump in low regard when it comes to his personal qualities, with little to no change from the last poll. Fifty-eight percent say that he is not honest, 55 percent say he does not have good leadership skills, 57 percent do not believe that he cares about average Americans, and 63 percent are of the opinion that he is not level-headed. Sixty-one percent also believe that he does not share their values.
However, a majority of voters (58 percent) continue to believe that Mr. Trump is intelligent, and 61 percent believe that he is a strong person, down three points from the last poll.
Some female members of the Trump family do better than the president. He receives a negative favorability rating—39 percent for, 56 percent against—while first lady Melania Trump receives a positive favorability rating of 34-24. His daughter Ivanka follows suit, with 36 percent saying they have a favorable opinion of her versus the 31 percent who don’t.
Only 15 percent see son-in-law Jared Kushner favorably compared to 32 percent who think otherwise. Fifty percent of voters say that they don’t know enough about him to have an opinion. A majority of voters believe that it is not appropriate for either Ivanka or Jared to play “a significant role in the White House.”
Americans disapprove of the president’s foreign policy overall 56-40, though he gets positive marks (45-42) for his handling of North Korea and 49 percent approval of his handling of Syria.
Sixty-one percent support his missile strike against Syria nearly two weeks ago, but 62 percent believe that it will not deter the Syrian government from using chemical weapons in the future. And while 52 percent say that the United States has a “moral responsibility to get involved” in Syria, 49 percent also believe that involvement is not in the country’s national interest.
Seventy-eight percent of voters are either very or somewhat concerned about the U.S. getting into a war in Syria, and 72 percent are worried that involvement could end up in armed conflict with Russia.
When it comes to domestic issues, the scores are more straightforward. Forty-nine percent disapprove of his handling of the economy. Voters disapprove of his work thus far on immigration by a 58-39 margin, and and 61 percent disapprove of his handling of the environment.
The poll surveyed 1,062 voters from April 12 to April 18 and has a 3.0 percentage point margin of error.
