Poll: Majority of Americans approve of Donald Trump’s North Korea effort
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, up from 42 percent in March and 34 percent last October. It’s the highest rating for the Republican president on any individual issue on an AP-NORC poll since his inauguration.
The survey was conducted immediately after Trump concluded a oneday meeting with Kim, the first between a U.S. and North Korean leader in six decades of hostility, at which they agreed North Korea would work toward denuclearization in exchange for U.S. security guarantees.
The positive feelings about the summit among Americans don’t appear to have made a dent in Trump’s overall approval rating, which stands at just 41 percent and has not significantly changed since March. As the poll was being conducted, Trump was embroiled in controversy over his administration’s policy of separating children from their parents after border agents catch the families crossing into the U.S. illegally.
Yet even people unhappy with Trump overall are willing to admire his efforts at detente with North Korea. Last September, Trump taunted Kim as “Rocket Man” in a speech at the United Nations, during which he vowed to “totally destroy North Korea” if the U.S. was forced to defend itself or its allies. Last week, after meeting with Kim, he tweeted, “there is no longer a nuclear threat from 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 Democrat Hillary Clinton for president.
Still, she added, when she considers the big picture, Trump’s presidency is “a nightmare. There’s absolutely no integrity in his life and in his presidency overall.”
Leo isn’t alone in having such split views of the president. While only 9 percent of Democrats and 37 percent of independents approve of how Trump’s performance as president overall, 31 percent of Democrats and 53 percent of independents approve of his work with North Korea.
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.
Even as they broadly give Trump solid reviews for the summit, Americans remain skeptical about what sort of deal he may ultimately reach with a country controlled by what he once called a “depraved regime.” Trump’s critics have responded to his confidence in the agreement struck with Kim at the summit with reminders that North Korea has never signed such a deal that it didn’t later break.
A majority of Americans — 52 percent — have little to 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.