Poll: Most Americans Don’t Think Donald Trump Can Prevent Scandal In His Administration
A new Gallup poll finds just 44 percent of all Americans have confidence that President-elect Donald Trump will be able to prevent major scandal within his administration.
With roughly just three weeks remaining before he is slated to be installed as the nation’s 45th president, researchers also found just 46 percent of a pool of 1,028 adult citizens are confident in Trump’s ability to handle an international crisis, with that number ticking up to just 47 percent on the issue of whether he is equipped to make sound decisions concerning the use of the military.
Surveyors noted those bleak numbers put Trump in a “historically weak position” for an incoming commander-in-chief. By comparison, President Obama, George W. Bush, and Bill Clinton all registered at least 70 percent on all the same questions when they took the Oval Office.
Even on the issues where Trump scores his highest marks, researchers noted his numbers still fall well short of those registered by his seemingly far more popular predecessors.
Sixty percent of respondents agreed they are confident Trump will be able to effectively work with a Republican-controlled Congress, while 59 percent said they think he can handle the economy effectively, numbers still short of those attained by the nation’s three previous presidents on the same issues.
Overall, Gallup’s averages of confidence find when compared to Obama, Bush, and Clinton, Trump has a 32-point confidence deficit in his ability to avoid scandals, a 29-point deficit in his ability to use military force well, and a 28-point deficit in his ability to manage the executive branch.
While 60 percent of Americans believe Trump will have the support and cooperation of a Republican-backed Congress, that number still pales to the 82 percent of voters on average who were convinced Obama, Bush, and Clinton would be able to get bottom-line results by working with legislators.
Meanwhile, just 14 percent of respondents that identified as Democratic voters indicated they are confident Trump can prevent major scandals during his time in the White House and only 17 percent responded they have confidence he can handle an international crisis or use military force wisely.
On average, only 21 percent of Democrats have confidence in the newly elected president’s ability to handle the responsibilities of his job, compared to the roughly 67 percent of Republican voters who expressed some level of confidence in Obama at the time he began his administration.
In addition, only 84 percent of Republicans express confidence in Trump’s abilities as president, compared to 94 percent of Democrats who trusted Obama and 95 percent of Republicans who felt the same way about Bush.
Released on Monday and gleaned from the responses of 1,028 respondents, the data reflects much of the polarization now gripping the nation.
As a candidate, Trump often sparked controversy with some of his divisive rhetoric and proposed policies. He has vowed to immediately deport up to 3 million undocumented immigrants upon taking office and has proposed a ban on allowing Muslims into the country.
At the time of launching his candidacy, Trump castigated immigrants as “criminals” and “rapists” and pledged to carry out mass deportations.
“What we are going to do is get the people that are criminal and have criminal records, gang members, drug dealers, where a lot of these people, probably 2 million, it could be even 3 million, we are getting them out of our country or we are going to incarcerate,” he said.
Trump has also vowed to erect a wall along the Mexican border to further keep immigrants at bay that he insists he plans to force the Mexico government to foot the bill for.
Trump stunned much of the nation by upsetting Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton in a hotly contested general election last November, where Clinton won the popular vote by fall short in the Electoral College.
[Featured Image by Mark Wallheiser/Getty Images]
