Americans gloomy about Trump: poll

U.S. President Donald Trump frequently casts his first year in office as a string of successes and campaign promises fulfilled.

But less than a quarter of Americans think Trump has made good on the pledges he made to voters while running for president, according to a new poll by the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.

Among Republicans, just half say Trump has kept his promises, which included vows to overhaul his predecessor’s health-care law, withdraw the United States from a nuclear accord with Iran and invest millions in new projects to fix the nation’s aging infrastructure. None of those steps has been taken.

“Everything has stalled out,” said Mark Krowski, 37, an independent from Milwaukee, Wis., who leans Republican but didn’t vote for Trump last year.

As 2017 comes to a close, the majority of Americans painted a broadly pessimistic view of Trump’s presidency, the nation’s politics and the overall direction of the country. Just three in 10 Americans said the United States is heading in the right direction, and 52 per cent said the country is worse off since Trump became president — worrisome signs both for the White House and Republicans heading into a midterm election year where control of Congress will be at stake.

Along with the 23 per cent who think Trump has kept his promises, another 30 per cent think he has tried and f ailed and 45 per cent think he hasn’t kept them at all.

In a second AP-NORC poll conducted this month, Trump’s job approval rating sits at just 32 per cent, making him the least popular firstyear president on record. A quarter of Republicans say they’re among those who disapprove of the president.