Trump said his meeting with Putin in Helsinki was considered a triumph among all „except with the real enemy of the people, the Fake News Media.“
President Donald Trump has repeatedly hailed the „great success“ of his summit with Russia’s Vladimir Putin — but most Americans disapproved of his performance, new polls show.
On Thursday, Trump said on Twitter for the second time that his meeting with Putin on Monday in Helsinki was considered a triumph among all „except with the real enemy of the people, the Fake News Media.“
Trump added that he looked forward to a second meeting with the Russian leader.
Most people see it differently, according to new polls from CBS and Axios/SurveyMonkey .
Only 32 percent, or about a third, of Americans approve of Trump’s handling of the Helsinki summit, according to CBS‘ poll. Fifty-five percent disapprove.
The survey shows a partisan divide between Republicans and Democrats, however. While 8 percent of Democrats approve of Trump’s meeting with Putin, 68 percent of Republicans said they approved of Trump’s handling of the summit.
Perhaps more troubling for the president is that 53 percent of independent voters said they disapproved of Trump’s performance, while 29 percent approved. Trump had an edge with independent voters when he defeated Democrat Hillary Clinton in 2016.
A poll from Axios and SurveyMonkey also showed that a much higher percentage of Americans disapproved of Trump’s handling of the joint press conference with Putin. Fifty-eight percent disapproved of his press conference performance, versus 40 percent who approved, according to the survey.
Axios‘ poll also shows an even more stark divide between Republicans‘ and Democrats‘ perspectives on the summit than CBS‘ polling: 79 percent of Republicans favored Trump’s handling of the press conference, compared with just 7 percent of Democrats.
Independents also overwhelmingly disapproved 62-33, the poll shows.
The CBS poll had a margin of error of plus-or-minus four points. The Axios/SurveyMonkey poll had a margin of error of plus-or-minus three points.
The summit was a political lightning rod long before Trump arrived in Helsinki. After special counsel Robert Mueller revealed indictments against 12 Russian intelligence officials Friday, three days before the summit, charging them with hacking Democrats and stealing voters‘ information, an avalanche of Democratic lawmakers called on Trump to cancel the meeting.
Instead, Trump had a closed-door, one-on-one meeting with Putin, followed by a press conference in which he refused to side with his own administration’s intelligence conclusions that Russia waged an influence campaign in Trump’s favor during the 2016 election. „I have confidence in both parties,“ Trump said, referring to the U. S. intelligence community and Putin, who denies any such interference.
He even appeared at times to put more trust in Putin, whose denial of any meddling he called „extremely strong and powerful.“
Republicans in Congress, as well as media figures on Fox News who regularly defend him, lashed out at Trump after the press conference .
Still, among Republican voters, Trump still commands comfortable levels of support on nearly every issue.
The CBS poll, for instance, shows that since last year, more Democrats and independents said they think Trump is acting too friendly towards the Russian president, while more than three quarters of Republicans believe the president strikes an appropriate approach to Russia.
According to the CBS poll, almost 90 percent of Democrats said they believe U. S. intelligence assessments that Russia interfered in the elections. Just more than 50 percent of Republicans and 67 percent of independents said they trust U. S. intelligence.
