New York Times | NATO, Donald Trump, Samsung: Your Friday Briefing New York Times A news conference by President Trump turned into an angry self-defense of his administration and his character. The tone is such hatred, he said of the commentary about him on cable TV. I'm really not a bad person. Mr. Trump said he had directed ... |
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NATO, Donald Trump, Samsung: Your Friday Briefing - New York Times
February 16, 2017
Overall, 39% say they approve of how Trump is handling his job as president, while 56% say they disapprove and 6% do not offer a view. Job ratings for Trump are more negative than for other recent presidents at similar points in their first terms.
By margins of more than two-to-one, larger shares of the public approved than disapproved of the early performance of Ronald Reagan, George H. W. Bush, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Barack Obama. For example, in February 2001 just a few months after Bush defeated Al Gore, despite narrowly losing the popular vote 53% approved of how he was handling his job, compared with just 21% who said they disapproved.
An overwhelming share of the public (94%) offers a job rating for Trump; just 6% say they dont know whether they approve or disapprove of him. By contrast, about two-in-ten or more declined to offer an early view of prior presidents dating back to Reagan in 1981.
The approval ratings of Trumps recent predecessors followed different trajectories over the course of their first years, with a few improving in the eyes of the public, while others saw their ratings decline.
Clinton began his first term with an approval rating of 56%, but his ratings fell to around 40% by the summer of his first year, before recovering somewhat by the end of 1993.
Obama saw a gradual decline in his initially high approval ratings over his first year. By contrast, ratings for George H. W. Bush rose over the course 1989. Ratings for Reagan initially moved higher, but then declined later in the year.
Approval ratings for George W. Bush were around 50% through the summer of his first year, but shot up to the mid-80s following the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.
Among Republicans and Republican-leaning independents, 84% say they approve of the job Trump is doing. This is in line with early levels of support seen among members of the presidents own party in recent administrations. However, just 8% of Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents say they approve of the job Trump is doing. This is by far the lowest early approval rating among members of the party not in control of the White House over the last six administrations. Early presidential approval among out-party members has been no lower than 30% in prior administrations dating to Reagan.
In addition to a wide majority of the public being able to rate Trumps early job performance, most say they approve or disapprove of him strongly. Overall, 46% say they disapprove of Trump strongly, while another 9% say they disapprove but not strongly.
And by about three-to-one, more of those who approve of his performance say they feel this way strongly (29% of total public) than not strongly (8% of total public).
Intense disapproval of Trump is a majority view among several demographic groups. Most blacks (63%), Hispanics (56%), postgraduates (61%), college graduates (54%), women (54%) and young adults ages 18-29 (55%) say they strongly disapprove of Trumps job performance.
Trumps ratings are less negative among whites (49% approve, 46% disapprove), men (45% approve, 48% disapprove) and those ages 65 and older (48% approve, 47% disapprove). Nonetheless, strong approval is no higher than strong disapproval among all of these groups. Whites without a college degree are one major demographic group for which most approve of Trumps job performance (56%) and strong approval outweighs strong disapproval (46% vs. 32%).
When it comes to specific issues, Trump receives negative ratings for his handling of terrorism, immigration and foreign policy; his ratings on the economy are more evenly split.
Overall, 43% approve of the way Trump is handling the economy, while 47% say they disapprove and 10% do not offer a view. More disapprove (53%) than approve (42%) of how he is handling the threat of terrorism. About six-in-ten say they disapprove of how Trump is handling the nations immigration policy (62%) and foreign policy (59%).
Most Americans see Trump as someone who keeps his promises and is able to get things done, but the public holds negative views across many other characteristics, including his trustworthiness and temperament.
Fully 60% describe Trump as someone who keeps his promises, while just 31% think of him as someone who doesnt keep his promises. Most also view Trump as able to get things done (54%); 40% do not think of him this way.
As many say Trump is a strong leader as say they dont view him this way (49% each). When it comes to his management ability, 45% think he is a good manager, while 52% say this phrase does not describe him.
Trumps image is much more negative across a range of other characteristics. Majorities say that Trump is not even tempered (68%), is not a good communicator (63%), is not trustworthy (59%), is not well-informed (57%) and does not care about people like me (56%).
Across most traits, large majorities of Republicans and Republican leaners ascribe positive characteristics to Trump, while relatively few Democrats and Democratic leaners do the same.
For example, 81% of Republicans say Trump is well-informed compared with just 11% of Democrats.
However, the partisan gap is slightly narrower on whether Trump keeps his promises, with 39% of Democrats saying he does so.
And among Republicans, about as many say they think of Trump as even tempered (48%) as say they do not think of him this way (47%). This is by far the item Trump performs the worst on among Republicans.
About half of the public (52%) says Trump makes them feel uneasy; 46% say he does not make them feel this way. Anger is a less-commonly held negative emotion: 39% say Trump makes them feel this way, compared with 59% who say he does not.
A pair of positive reactions to Trump does not register widely: 40% of the public says Trump makes them feel hopeful (59% say he does not), while 33% say he makes them feel proud (65% say he does not).
Overall, 84% of Republicans say Trump makes them feel hopeful and 72% say he makes them feel proud. Few Republicans say Trump makes them feel uneasy (16%) or angry (6%).
Among Democrats, more say Trump makes them feel uneasy (80%) than angry (66%). Just 10% of Democrats say Trump makes them feel hopeful and only 6% say he makes them feel proud.
At the outset of his administration, the public is not confident that Trump keeps his business interests separate from the decisions he makes as president.
Four-in-ten say they are either very (24%) or somewhat (16%) confident that Trump keeps his business interests separate from the decisions he makes as president. Nearly six-in-ten (59%) say they are either not too (15%) or not at all (43%) confident that he is doing this.
Among Democrats, 69% say they are not at all confident that he keeps his business interests separate from his job as president (another 18% say they are not too confident). Among Republicans, 53% say they are very confident and 29% say they are somewhat confident that he is keeping them separate.
Young people and highly educated adults express particularly low confidence that Trump is keeping his business interests separate from his decision making as president. Overall, 51% of those ages 18-29 say they are not at all confident that he is doing this, compared with 45% of those 30-49, 40% of those 50-64 and 36% 0f those 65 and older.
A majority of postgraduates (57%) and college graduates (55%) express no confidence that Trump is preventing his business interests from influencing his decisions as president. Smaller shares of those with some college experience (42%) and no more than a high school diploma (35%) express no confidence in Trump on this measure.
Most Americans say Trump does not have much respect for the countrys democratic institutions.
Overall, 59% say Trump has not too much (25%) or no respect at all (34%) for the countrys democratic institutions and traditions. A smaller share (40%) says he has either a great deal (18%) or a fair amount (22%) of respect for these institutions. Views on this question are little changed from October 2016, during the general election campaign.
As with virtually all assessments of Trump, there are wide party divides in views on this question. Among Republicans and Republican leaners, 77% say Trump has either a great deal (42%) or a fair amount (34%) of respect for the nations democratic institutions. By contrast, 85% of Democrats and Democratic leaners say Trump has little respect for democratic institutions and traditions in the U.S, including a majority (54%) of Democrats who say he has no respect at all for these institutions and traditions.
Overall, more hold an unfavorable (57%) than favorable (41%) view of Trump. Views among demographic groups largely mirror patterns in presidential job approval.
For example, most blacks (80%), Hispanics (72%), adults ages 18-29 (71%) and ages 30-49 (61%), and women (64%) hold an unfavorable view of Trump. Views among postgraduates (68% unfavorable) and college graduates (62% unfavorable) also are broadly negative.
Trumps favorability ratings are more positive among whites (51% favorable vs. 48% unfavorable) and men (48% favorable vs. 49% unfavorable). Those ages 50-64 and ages 65 and older also are about as likely to view Trump favorably as unfavorably. Among whites without a college degree, a 57%-majority holds a favorable view of Trump.
Views of the national economy are the most positive they have been since prior to the Great Recession. The more positive assessments of the economy are the result of improved views among Republicans in the wake of the 2016 election, and steady economic ratings among Democrats.
Overall, 42% rate economic conditions as excellent or good, while 39% say they are only fair and just 18% describe them as poor. This marks the first time in a decade that about as many say the economy is excellent or good as say it is only fair. The share rating the economy as excellent or good is up 11 points since December.
Looking ahead, 38% expect economic conditions to be better in a year, while nearly as many (32%) think they will be worse; 28% expect them to be about the same as they are now. Far more now expect economic conditions to change over the next year (either for better or worse) than said this prior to the election, as views among Republicans have grown more optimistic and views among Democrats have become more pessimistic.
Since December, the share of Republicans who rate economic conditions as excellent or good has shot up from 18% to 40%. Looking forward, 75% of Republicans expect conditions to be better in a year; in June, just 27% said this.
Overall, 46% of Democrats rate the economy as excellent or good, little changed over the last several months. However, Democrats economic outlook has changed significantly since the election. Just 14% expect economic conditions to be better in a year; nearly half (49%) think they will be worse, and 34% expect them to be about the same. In June, before Trumps election win, most Democrats (58%) expected the economy to be about the same in a year and the share who thought it would be better (32%) outweighed the share who thought it would be worse (8%).
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1. Early public attitudes about Donald Trump - Pew Research Center for the People and the Press
BBC News | Donald Trump: Unchained and unapologetic BBC News Donald Trump reportedly started work in the Oval Office on Thursday morning and told his staff he wanted to hold a press conference that day. And so he did. Boy, did he. The event, ostensibly an announcement of the president's new pick for labour ... |
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Donald Trump: Unchained and unapologetic - BBC News
Have you ever had a job you loved, but one where you felt like youd achieved everything you could? So you looked for a new job, went through a fairly grueling application process, if you do say so yourself, got the offer. Then you started the job, and you hated it. Worse, all the tricks youd learned in your old job seemed to be pretty much useless in the new one. Did you ever have that experience?
Trump's News-Conference Performance
The president of the United States can sympathize.
Donald Trump held the first extended press conference of his presidency on Thursday, and it was a stunning, disorienting experience. He mused about nuclear war, escalated his feud with the press, continued to dwell on the vote count in November, asked whether a black reporter was friends with the Congressional Black Caucus, and, almost as an afterthought, announced his selection for secretary of labor.
One of the few continuous themes through the otherwise disjointed performance was how little fun Trump is having. As you know, our administration inherited many problems across government and across the economy, Trump started in, continuing:
To be honest, I inherited a mess. Its a mess. At home and abroad, a mess. Jobs are pouring out of the country; you see whats going on with all of the companies leaving our country, going to Mexico and other places, low pay, low wages, mass instability overseas, no matter where you look. The middle east is a disaster. North Koreawell take care of it folks; were going to take care of it all. I just want to let you know, I inherited a mess.
Much of the press conference proceeded as an airing of grievances, as Trump unspooled his frustrationsprincipally with the press, but also quite clearly with the federal judiciary, the Senate, the Democratic Party, the intelligence community, ISIS, and whoever else came to mind.
The litany of misery wasnt always consistent. On the one hand, Jobs have already started to surge, he said. On the other, Jobs are pouring out of the country. Trumps doomsaying on the economy cut directly against a triumphant tweet Thursday morning, in which he boasted, Stock market hits new high with longest winning streak in decades. Great level of confidence and optimism - even before tax plan rollout!
Theres been a boom in the cottage industry of diagnosing the presidents mental health from afar these days, the kind of thing that shouldnt even be done by licensed professionals, much less amateurs. But its hard not to suspect that Trump isnt having a lot of fun. Hes eyed the presidency for decades, and now that hes in the White House, he seems deeply unhappy.
And who can blame him? The administration is plagued by leaks, from rival factions sniping at each other within the West Wing to intelligence officials speaking for stories that have damaged the administration and brought down National Security Adviser Michael Flynn. (Yes, Virginia, that was this week, even though it feels like forever ago.) Trumps signature immigration executive order has been halted by federal courts. The storied wall isnt under construction, and Mexico still wont pay. Several Cabinet spots remain unfilled. Theres little progress on repealing and replacing Obamacare. He is beginning to learn just how slowly the wheels of action turn in politics. Meanwhile, congressional Republicans have slowly begun to agitate for investigations into various questionable Trump moves.
Trump tried to insist everything was fine. I turn on the TV, open the newspapers and I see stories of chaos. Chaos, he said. Yet it is the exact opposite. This administration is running like a fine-tuned machine, despite the fact that I cant get my cabinet approved.
He argued that, in the face of the evidence, he had already accomplished much. In each of these actions, Im keeping my promises to the American people. These are campaign promises, he said. Some people are so surprised that were having strong borders.
His mood and words suggested otherwise. Im not ranting and raving, he ranted and raved. There are other signs of frustration. Rather than spend weekends at the White House, he has made a habit of going to Mar-a-Lago, the Florida resort where he apparently feels more comfortable. On Saturday, hell hold what his aides have described as a campaign rally, effectively starting his 2020 reelection race. These are excuses to leave Washington, but they also point to a president who misses the presidential campaign, when he was an underdog who kept beating expectations, and before he had to wrestle with the work of governing. That nostalgia manifested itself in a reverie about the election, and how no one thought he could win.
We got 306 because people came out and voted like theyve never seen before so thats the way it goes, he said. In fact, he got 304. I guess it was the biggest electoral college win since Ronald Reagan, Trump said, again falsely.
Trump is not alone in encountering some challenges in his early presidency. John Kennedy joked to Robert McNamara, I'm not aware of any school for presidents. After receiving his first classified briefing as president-elect, in 2008, Barack Obama quipped, Its good that there are bars on the windows here because if there werent, I might be jumping out.
Nor is Trump alone in his battles with the press. I'm kind of sitting back and enjoying Trump's war with the press, Leon Panetta, the former White House chief of staff, CIA director, and defense secretary, told me recently. I've worked in one way or another under nine presidents. There isn't one of them that had a loving relationship with the press. The nature of it is presidents hate bad stories.
But Trump seems to take this unusually personally, perhaps because he has always recognized the power of the media to craft his image, and so masterfully manipulated it in building his business legend and his presidential campaign. Now he cant seem to catch a break from the press.
What about the problems he identifiedISIS, the economy, and so on: Did Trump not expect them to be intractable, thorny problems? After all, his campaign was predicated on a dark vision of America coming apart at the seams. On stumps from Arizona to Appalachia to Akron, he warned of the evils of the establishment, the threats of ISIS, the struggles of the economy. I alone can fix it, he pledged. Did Trump not believe his own rhetoric, or did he imagine that these problems would melt away simply by virtue of his inauguration?
The early Trump presidency has been more chaotic than any other recent launch, even the hectic first days of the Clinton administration. Its hard to know what to make of Trumps jeremiad, which, beneath the bluster and fury, telegraphed a plaintive frustration that he had been unable to accomplish more, and perhaps moreover to convince the press and the public that he was accomplishing more. The catch-22 for Trump is this: As his ratings obsession shows, he desperately wants to be loved. Yet that desire for approval is leading Trump toward campaign events, to Mar-a-Lago, to searingly weird press conferencesall things that distract him from getting down to the real work of governing, without which his performance and approval are unlikely to rise.
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Does Donald Trump Hate His New Job? - The Atlantic
President Trump spent his first four weeks on the job denouncing the nations news media with regular blasts from his perch in the Oval Office and on Twitter.
On Thursday, he gathered the press into the East Room for something else, a less combative give-and-take conversation where he could lay out his complaints and try to rewrite the fitful history of his young Administration.
Theres been no policy confusion, Trump said. The legal wrangling surrounding his controversial travel-ban executive order was the result of a bad court. Any suggestion of staff drama was fake news. Any suggestion that hes more favorable to Russia than his predecessor or his 2016 opponent? Thats fake news too.
This Administration is running like a fine-tuned machine, he boasted, less than a day after being forced to withdraw his nominee to lead the Department of Labor for lack of Republican support.
Every hero needs a villain. Every victim needs an aggressor. One hundred days after he shocked the world in winning the presidency, Donald Trump made clear he believes Presidents need foils too. In this case, the media.
The public doesnt believe you anymore, he said. Maybe I had something to do with that.
Read More: Transcript of Trump's Combative Press Conference
Its hardly a surprise for a man who has lived his entire adult life cultivating and attacking coverage in the tabloids to continue that practice in the White House. Sitting in the private dining room next to the Oval Office or in the executive residence, Trump has been an avid consumer of television coverage of his Administration and hes been open to aides in recent days about his displeasure.
Offering an encore of his marathon press conferences during the campaign, which proved to be the cable-television fodder that he believes helped him secure the presidency, Trump declared, I'm here again, to take my message straight to the people.
There was little doubt that the freewheeling Trump enjoyed the sparring match with the Fourth Estate. He toyed playfully with the network correspondents he recognized, and wielded the power of deciding whom to call on and whom to silence at will. The reality television host was doing it live and loving it.
Tomorrow, they will say, Donald Trump rants and raves at the press, he said. I'm not ranting and raving. I'm just telling you. You know, you're dishonest people. But I'm not ranting and raving. I love this. I'm having a good time doing it.
A senior Administration official explained the surprise nature of the press conference, saying Trump walked into the Oval Office on Thursday morning and told aides he wanted to set the record straight.
Its been 28 days. He wanted to speak directly to the people without a filter," the official said.
Holding court for an hour and 16 minutes, his remarks carried live on all of the major networks, Trump turned to the assembled members of the press to berate them for their negative coverage and plead for more favorable treatment.
I think you would do much better by being different, he said to a reporter for CNN. Trumps chief strategist, Steve Bannon, told TIME on Wednesday that the presss efforts to report on dysfunction in the White House proved their status as the opposition party.
Trumps press conference opened with the more than 23-minute listing of grievances and accomplishments.
There has never been a presidency that has done so much in such a short period of time, he said in no small measure of hyperbole. Just moments earlier he tried to explain the slow pace of progress. To be honest, I inherited a mess. It's a mess. At home and abroad, a mess.
Trump had only signed two relatively minor bills before delivering his remarks Thursday, with little action thus far on GOP priorities like Obamacare and tax reform.
Facing a flurry of questions about his relationship with Russia, Trump declared that nobody that I know of on his campaign had contact with any Russian officials during his candidacy. He also explained his decision to fire National Security Adviser Mike Flynn earlier this week.
He didnt tell the Vice President of the United States the facts and then he didnt remember and that just wasnt acceptable to me, he said, adding his decision to let him go was helped by having a strong replacement ready.
Russia is fake news, he continued, dismissing the coverage of federal officials belief that Trump aides maintained close ties to Russian officials. The press should be ashamed of themselves, he continued of the leaks, which have also revealed his private conversations with world leaders. He added that hes asked the Department of Justice to look into the source of the revelations.
Minutes after falsely claiming the largest Electoral College victory since Ronald Reagan (George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton and Barack Obama all beat him), Trump sheepishly walked it back, first saying he only meant Republicans, and then blamed aides. I don't know, I was given that information, he said.
Minutes after Trump left the stage, his campaign emailed supporters. "Youre our last line of defense, the subject line blared. We need you to fight back against the media."
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Donald Trump Denies 'Ranting and Raving' in Extraordinary Press Conference - TIME