According to a new Politico/Morning Consult poll, Americans are divided over both the timing of President Donald Trump’s potential summit with North Korea and whether Trump will be effective head-to-head with dictator Kim Jong Un.
The poll provides a snapshot of voter attitudes just as Trump announced his intention to meet with Kim in the coming months. Of those surveyed, 41 percent support a summit under any circumstance, 36 percent want concessions from North Korea first and 24 percent don’t care either way.
A supplementary poll from Politico/Morning Consult indicated that voters are just as divided over whether they think Trump is qualified to negotiate with the North Korean dictator, with 45 percent say they have “a lot” or “some” confidence in Trump and 47 percent saying they have little or “no confidence at all” in Trump’S negotiating skills.
The poll reflects the ideological cleavage in the country; as might be expected, 51 percent of Republicans indicated “a lot” of confidence in Trump while 54 percent of Democrats signaled no confidence at all.
“Democrats and Republicans have drastically different viewpoints on whether President Trump will be able to handle threats posed by North Korea,” Morning Consult Chief Research Officer Kyle Dropp said. “While 81 percent of Republicans say they have a lot or some confidence in Trump’s ability to handle those threats, only 18 percent of Democrats say the same.”
The poll also indicates that less than a third of Americans desire air strikes (32 percent) while just under half (48 percent) are against them. Support for a ground-based assault found only 23 percent approval.
The survey was taken from March 9-11 among 1,992 registered voters and has a margin of error of plus or minus two percentage points.