WASHINGTON, Jan 28 — Two years into President Donald Trump’s administration, a majority of Americans have lost confidence in the brash real estate magnate’s performance on everything from the economy to foreign policy, a poll showed today.
The ABC News/Washington Post poll was published after Trump suffered a major setback in his signature push for more wall along the US-Mexican border.
On Friday, Trump agreed to suspend a punishing government shutdown after the tactic failed to pressure Democrats into backing his wall project.
Surveys have long shown Trump to be struggling for popularity beyond his hardcore base.
The RealClear Politics average currently shows him with 41.2 per cent job approval ratings and 55.5 per cent disapproval. An average put together by the FiveThirtyEight site puts those numbers at 39.4 to 56 per cent.
The new poll, however, focuses on disappointment among voters.
On the economy, which has been Trump’s chief claim to success, only 49 per cent believe he has done an excellent job, according to the poll. That’s down from 61 per cent who were expecting excellent results at the time he was inaugurated.
On job creation, those numbers fell to 51 per cent from an original 59 per cent.
On grappling with the enormous federal budget deficit, only 33 per cent think he has done a good or excellent job, compared to 50 per cent who started with high expectations.
Forty-four per cent of voters expected Trump to do an excellent job improving the country’s chaotic and expensive healthcare system, but the number now is only 33 per cent.
Forty-eight per cent of Americans say they have no confidence in Trump’s future performance, the poll found. The number is 37 per cent for Trump’s main opponent in Congress, the Democratic speaker of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi.
The Post-ABC poll was conducted by January 21-24 among a random national sample of 1,001 adults. — AFP
