Americans are highly disapproving of President Donald Trump in personal terms, with his tweeting habit a major irritant. Seventy percent say he’s acted in an unpresidential manner since taking office, 68 percent don’t see him as a positive role model, and 67 percent disapprove of his use of Twitter.
Fifty-seven percent of respondents in this ABC News/Washington Post poll say that the more they hear about Trump, the less they like him, versus 29 percent who like him more. And 56 percent say unpresidential conduct by Trump is “damaging to the presidency overall.”
Trump’s behavior comes in for some criticism even from his own camp. Nearly 4 in 10 Republicans polled, 38 percent, say his conduct has been unpresidential rather than “fitting and proper” for a president; so do 48 percent of evangelical white Protestants and 55 percent of non-college-educated white men, two core Trump support groups.
Word associations with Trump’s tweets are broadly negative in this poll, produced for ABC News by Langer Research Associates. Sixty-eight percent find them “inappropriate,” 65 percent “insulting,” 52 percent even “dangerous.” Fewer apply more positive descriptions: “interesting,” 41 percent; “effective,” 36 percent; and “refreshing,” 21 percent.
Such views are an important element of Trump’s poor job performance ratings. As reported Sunday, just 36 percent of Americans surveyed approve of his work in office overall — a record low at the six-month mark, and two-thirds distrust him to represent the United States in negotiations with other world leaders.
There are sharp differences among groups in response to Trump’s tweets, even beyond typical partisan and ideological divisions. While 58 percent of men polled call them inappropriate, that jumps to 78 percent among women. Conversely, just 29 percent of women surveyed see his tweets as interesting, versus 54 percent of men. Forty-six percent of white respondents see them as dangerous, rising to 65 percent of nonwhites. Even among Republicans, well fewer than half, 41 percent, say they’re refreshing.
Say why?
In an open-ended question, negative personal attributes, rather than policy positions, are most mentioned as the top complaints by respondents who disapprove of Trump: acting inappropriately (13 percent), being ill-informed (12 percent) and making false statements (also 12 percent). Among his approvers, the economy and jobs top the list (cited by 11 percent total), followed by positive attributes: speaking his mind (9 percent) and strong leadership (again 9 percent).
The broad sense of inappropriateness by Trump informs another result: Just 30 percent of those polled see him as a positive role model for young people, versus 68 percent who say not. Among groups, half of white evangelicals surveyed see him as a good role model, fewer than might be expected in a key support group. And among young adults surveyed, age 18 to 29, he’s seen as a good role model by just 19 percent.
An even worse result on this question has been seen before. As few as 18 percent of Americans surveyed saw President Bill Clinton as a positive role model. He earned that number by having an affair with a White House intern; Trump’s, by contrast, seems rooted in what he says — 140 characters at a time.
Methodology
This ABC News/Washington Post poll was conducted by landline and cellular telephone July 10 to 13, 2017, in English and Spanish, among a random national sample of 1,001 adults. Results have a margin of sampling error of 3.5 points, including the design effect. Partisan divisions are 35-23-35 percent, Democrats-Republicans-independents.
