Trump’s foreign trips get low marks in new poll
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump’s summits in North Korea and Russia have received tepid support at home, with less than one-third of Americans saying the trips were a success in an Economist/ YouGov poll released Wednesday.
The June 12 meeting between Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un was successful, 28 percent of respondents said, while 33 percent said it was unsuccessful and 39 percent said they were not sure.
Trump’s meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin received lower marks, with 23 percent calling it successful and 35 percent calling it unsuccessful. Only 1 in 10 Americans thought the U.S. got more out of the Putin summit than Russia did. Russia got more, 33 percent said, while 26 percent called it a wash.
Republicans were markedly more supportive of Trump’s foreign trips than Democrats. Fifty-nine percent of Republicans called the Singapore summit a success, and 44 percent of Republicans saw success in the Helsinki meeting.
Overall, 39 percent of Americans strongly or somewhat approve of Trump’s handling of foreign policy, while 47 percent say they don’t. The online poll of 1,500 U.S. adults was conducted Aug. 5 through 7 with a margin of error of 3.1 percentage points.
The poll numbers show the Trump administration struggling to score points on foreign policy despite a series of highprofile appearances on the world stage.
Trump’s July 16 meeting with Putin drew strong rebukes from leaders in both parties. In particular, members of Congress condemned Trump’s comments questioning the conclusion of U.S. intelligence agencies that Russia interfered in the 2016 U.S. presidential election. Trump later said he misspoke after the comments set off a frenzy of denunciations on Capitol Hill, including from Republicans.
Trump quickly declared success after the North Korea summit, saying in a series of tweets that “great progress was made on the denuclearization of North Korea” and there is “no longer a Nuclear Threat” from the country.
Trump’s message at the news conference immediately following the summit was more modest, as he cautioned the summit was the start of an “arduous” process that could ultimately fall through.