Poll: Trump’s Presidency is What Americans Expected

(CN) - President Donald Trump has met the public’s expectations of how he would perform in office, according to a Pew Research Center report released Thursday.

The study found the majority of Americans believe Trump has not set a high moral standard for the presidency and has not improved the way the U.S. government works.

Seventy-one percent of Americans say Trump has definitely or probably not set a high moral standard while he’s been in office, and 61 percent say the president has definitely or probably not improved the government, according to a Pew poll of more than 4,500 Americans conducted earlier this month.

The public already had low expectations for Trump just prior to his election, according to Pew, which found in a survey in November 2016 that 66 percent of Americans did not have much faith in him to set a high moral standard, and 59 percent anticipated that he would not be able to improve the way the government works.

Although there have been only slight changes in how the public views Trump since he was elected, public assessments of Trump are now “more definitive” and “polarized views have become even more so,” according to the Pew report. Republican and Republican-leaners are now more likely to say Trump has “definitely” improved the government, while Democrats and Democratic-leaners are more likely to say he has “definitely not” done this.

The majority of those who approve of the way Trump has done his job say his personality is what they like most. Sixty-percent of his fans say they like his approach and personality the most, while only 20 percent say they like his policies or values.

Only 10 percent of Trump approvers mentioned his work on the economy as his greatest success, while 6 percent said they liked his immigration policy the most.

Among the 61 percent of Americans who do not approve of Trump’s job performance, 57 percent say they cannot name anything about him that they “like most.”

In an open-ended response, when asked what she liked most about Trump, a 57-year-old woman said: “I don’t like anything he is doing. We are the laughing stock of the world.”

“Beyond his policies, Donald Trump is one of the most corrupt and morally bankrupt people to run the presidency,” a 28-year-old woman said. “I wish there was something I could say that I liked, because I truly try to find the best in people. I have not agreed with a single policy, or even understood how he handles himself. He chooses to benefit only himself … It’s unbelievable how he has threatened war on other countries over Twitter, and invalidated our own intelligence agencies. I’m exhausted by our lack of humanity and civility.”

Among the 39 percent of Americans who approve of Trump, 27 percent said they are concerned about his personality and the way that conducts himself on social media, with many specifically pointing to his use of Twitter as a problem.

“His never ending tweets and mouth are distracting him and Congress from accomplishing the work necessary,” a 63-year-old man said. “If he would shut up he could be the greatest ever.”

Many supporters say they like Trump’s “bold” and direct way of conducting business, and that he’s “not a politician.”

“If he sees something wrong he calls it out no matter who it is,” a 61-year-old man said. “He only does what he thinks is right. When President Trump talks I don’t have to figure out what he is saying. Most politicians never answer a question.”

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