Politics - News Analysis

Only 12 Percent of Americans are Proud of Our Country, and a Majority Say Trump is a ‘Terrible’ President

A recently released Pew Research Poll reveals bad news for President Donald Trump, showing that most Americans think he is a “poor” or “terrible” president and that many are unhappy with the way the country is being run.

The poll, conducted between June 16-22 while coronavirus cases surged during the reopening process and as protests against police violence and in support of the Black Lives Matter movement, surveyed 4,708 adults, including 3,577 registered voters, and it found that:

“Very few voters — just nine percent — say Trump is an average president; 37 percent say he is a good or great president; and a much larger share (53 percent) say he is poor or terrible, including 42 percent who think he is a terrible president.”

The poll also found that the percentage of Americans who feel satisfied with how the U.S. is being run has dropped by 19 points, from 31 percent in April to just 12 percent in June, Mail Online reports. Correspondingly, 87 percent say they are dissatisfied, and only 46 percent say they feel hopeful about the state of the country, while 53 percent say they aren’t.

But the Pew poll is just one of three that have come out since the beginning of the week, and each shows that Americans are very discontent with the state of the nation. The Pew Poll also finds that if the presidential election were held today, Biden would win, with 54 percent saying they support him and only 44 percent saying they’d vote for Trump.

RealClearPolitics also reports Biden has a healthy 9.5 percent lead over Trump.

And all of that’s bad news for a president who loves to boast about how well he’s doing, but his job performance ratings are tanking even among members of his own party, according to the Pew poll, with 42 percent calling him a “terrible” president and 11 percent describing him as “poor.” Only 37 percent say they feel he’s a “good” or “great” president.

Trump hasn’t commented on these recent polls, but he has in the past by saying he doesn’t like “fake” polls. In early June, he criticized a Wall Street Journal poll that showed him losing to Biden by eight percentage points, which lead him to call the numbers “unfair.”

“If I wasn’t constantly harassed for three years by fake and illegal investigations, Russia, Russia, Russia, and the Impeachment Hoax, I’d be up by 25 points on Sleepy Joe and the Do Nothing Democrats,” he tweeted. “Very unfair, but it is what it is!”

The Pew poll was encouraging about Trump’s handling of the economy, with 51 percent voicing confidence in the current economic situation and 48 percent expressing confidence in Biden.

But the gap widens considerably when it comes to the way the president has handled the coronavirus pandemic. Only 41 percent expressed confidence in Trump’s ability to handle the public health impact the virus is creating, while 52 percent voiced confidence in Biden’s ability to handle it.

Trump also received low marks for his handling of race problems in the U.S. In this case, only 35 percent of voters said they were confident he could deal effectively with race relations, while 48 percent placed their confidence with Biden.

So things aren’t looking particularly rosy for Trump in either of these instances and a poll conducted by Reuters/Ipsos confirms Americans are becoming more worried about his handling of the pandemic.

That could be portentous for him come November. That poll found 81 percent, including seven out of ten Republicans, were either “very” or “somewhat” concerned about the pandemic. When asked what was “the most important factor” in determining their vote, 27 percent mentioned the candidate’s plans to help the country recover from the pandemic, as compared to 21 percent who cited the candidate’s plan to create jobs and boost the economy.

Lastly, a poll conducted by Monmouth University found voters are unhappy with Trump’s handling of the disease, with 54 percent saying he’s done a poor job as opposed to 40 percent who say he’s done a good job.

It’s probably too early to say whether Trump will be out of office after November, but these numbers don’t look encouraging. That’s bad news for Trump, but good news for anyone hoping for a better future.

meet the author

Megan has lived in California, Nevada, Arizona, Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Florida and she currently lives in Central America. Living in these places has informed her writing on politics, science, and history. She is currently owned by 15 cats and 3 dogs and regularly owns Trump supporters when she has the opportunity. She can be found on Twitter at https://twitter.com/GaiaLibra and Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/politicalsaurus

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