Poll: Majority of Americans think Donald Trump will not be able to handle presidency
Jan 2, 2017, 9:56 AM | Updated: 1:31 pm
President-elect Donald Trump talks to reporters at Mar-a-Lago, Wednesday, Dec. 28, 2016, in Palm Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
(AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
PHOENIX — A majority of American voters are not confident that President-elect Donald Trump can handle the responsibilities of the presidential office, a new Gallup poll found.
Just 44 percent of Americans are confident that Trump can prevent major scandals during his administration, compared to 74 percent of Americans who placed their confidence in President Barack Obama before he took office.
The poll also found that just 46 percent of Americans think Trump can handle an international crisis, 47 percent think he can use military force wisely and 53 percent believe he can manage the executive branch effectively.
However, Trump did gain a majority of the voters’ trust in two areas: 59 percent of voters believe Trump will be able to handle the economy effectively and 60 percent of voters believe he can work effectively with Congress to get things done.
These polling numbers are a sharp contrast from voters’ confidence in Obama and President George W. Bush before they began their administrations.
In comparison, 73 percent of voters believed Obama could handle an international crisis and 71 percent of voters thought the same of Bush. Seventy-one percent of Americans felt Obama could use military force wisely, compared to 78 percent of people for Bush.
A majority of voters — 74 percent — also thought that Bush, the last Republican president who had a majority Republican Congress for most of his administration, could work with Congress to get things done.
The poll, which was conducted from Dec. 7 to 11, comes on the heels of another Gallup poll that found that Trump’s favorability rating is up following his election, but still trails other president-elects at just 48 percent.
