Poll: Majority of Americans like effort on N. Korea

WASHINGTON — A majority of Americans now approve of President Donald Trump’s handling of U.S. relations with North Korea, a change that comes after his historic summit with that country’s leader, Kim Jong Un. But most don’t believe Kim is serious about addressing the international concerns about his country’s nuclear weapons program.

A new poll from The Associated PRESS-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research released Thursday finds that 55 percent of Americans approve of Trump’s diplomacy with North Korea.

The survey was conducted immediately after Trump concluded a oneday meeting with Kim, the first between U.S. and North Korean leaders in six decades of hostility, at which they agreed North Korea would work toward denuclearization in exchange for U.S. security guarantees.

Even people unhappy with Trump overall admire his efforts at detente with North Korea.

“I hate to give Donald Trump any credit, but the fact is he was able to sit down with the man and possibly get the volume of that threat turned down significantly,” said Susan Leo, 66, a retired minister from Santa Cruz, California, who supported Hillary Clinton for president.

Americans also have mixed feelings about Trump’s announcement that he would end military exercises with South Korea while negotiations with North Korea are ongoing, with about 3 in 10 in favor and 3 in 10 opposed.

Also, a majority of Americans — 52 percent — have little or no confidence that negotiations with Kim will lead to North Korea giving up its nuclear weapons, while just 12 percent are very or extremely confident. Fifty-five percent think North Korea isn’t serious about addressing international concerns about its nuclear weapons program.

The AP-NORC poll of 1,109 adults was conducted June 13-18. The margin of sampling error for all respondents is plus or minus 4.1 percentage points.

Respondents were first selected randomly using address-based sampling methods.

They were later interviewed online or by phone.