HAMDEN — A Quinnipiac University poll released Tuesday shows President Donald Trump’s approval rating has improved slightly but is still in negative territory. People also disagree with the president’s position that news organizations are “the enemy of the American people,” and had advice for Oprah Winfrey in case she was thinking of running for president.
41 percent of American voters gave President Trump a favorable score, while 52 percent showed their disapproval.
Last month, 38 percent approved of the job Trump was doing, and 55 percent disapproved. Party, gender and race factored in the approval rating numbers.
- Men approve by a narrow 49 percent approval to 45 percent disapproval while women disapprove by 58 percent.
- 91 percent of Republicans approved of him, while 89 percent of Democrats disapproved, and 52 percent of Independent voters disapproved.
- 49 percent of White voters approve, while 68 percent of non-white voters disapprove.
According to Quinnipiac, 49 percent of American voters said President Trump’s address to Congress last Tuesday was better than expected, 39 percent say it was as expected and 3 percent say it was worse than expected.
Voters still have negative opinions of some of Trump’s personal qualities:
- 55 percent said that he is not honest;
- 47 percent that he has good leadership skills and 50 percent that he does not;
- 52 percent said that he does not care about average Americans;
- 61 percent said that he is not level-headed;
- 67 percent said that he is a strong person;
- 64 percent said that he is intelligent;
- 58 percent said that he does not share their values.
“The Trump camp can only hope the president’s blip in approval is not a fleeting nod to his speech to Congress,” said Tim Malloy, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Poll. “He remains on his heels in so many character categories that this survey is only slightly more encouraging than the troubling Quinnipiac University survey of a few weeks ago.”
When it comes to the media, 58 percent of voters disagreed with Trump’s claim that certain news organizations are “the enemy of the American people.” 86 percent of Democrats disagreed and 60 percent of Independent voters disagreed. 81 percent of Republicans agreed with the President.
53 percent of voters polled say they trust the media more than Trump “to tell you the truth about important issues.”
53 percent of voters disapproved of the way the media has covered Trump, but 60 percent disapproved of the way Trump talks about the media. A total of 89 percent of American voters say it is “very important” or “somewhat important” that the news media hold public officials accountable.
So, should Oprah Winfrey run for president? 52 of people rated her favorably, but 69 percent said she shouldn’t run.
The poll was conducted from March 2 to 6. Quinnipiac University surveyed 1,283 voters nationwide by calling landlines and cell phones. There is a margin of error of +/- 2.7 percentage points. For more detailed information about the poll, go here.
