Less Than Half of Americans Think Trump Can Handle Presidential Duties

Last updated on July 17th, 2023 at 09:45 pm

A new Gallup poll has some bad news for the incoming administration: less than half of Americans think he can handle his presidential duties. According to the poll, while there is a general lack of faith in Trump’s competence, “Solid majorities were confident in Obama, Bush and Clinton.”

Trump repeatedly states that he is a “smart guy” and knows things the rest of us don’t (even the experts) but Americans aren’t buying it, as we have already seen from the fact that Trump has the lowest approval rating of any president-elect.

Gallup tells us,

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As Donald Trump prepares to take the presidential oath on Jan. 20, less than half of Americans are confident in his ability to handle an international crisis (46%), to use military force wisely (47%) or to prevent major scandals in his administration (44%). At least seven in 10 Americans were confident in Barack Obama, George W. Bush and Bill Clinton in these areas before they took office.

The chart below explains in detail comparisons between these men:

Trump supporters could point to the fact that “Americans express somewhat more confidence in Trump to work effectively with Congress (60%), to handle the economy effectively (59%), to defend U.S. interests abroad as president (55%), and to manage the executive branch effectively (53%),” but Gallup cautions that “even in these areas, Americans are far less confident in Trump than they were in his predecessors, when comparisons are available.”

Trump has denigrated both President Obama and President Clinton but fully 74 percent of Americans have confidence in President Obama compared to Trump’s 44 percent. Comparisons across the board do not bear out his claims. Donald Trump cannot hold a candle to either man and despite attempts to take credit where none is due, he has not shown even in the business world a consistent track record of success.

This isn’t a promising prelude to a Trump presidency, or to his promise to #MAGA. Trump is off to an all-around bad start – in fact, a start with more hiccups and hitches is difficult to imagine. It is worrisome that even before he takes office one-third of Americans think he will be one of the worst presidents ever.

This Gallup poll has done nothing to dispell such concerns. Certainly, though the endless satire of his transition, he has given Americans no reason to suspect he handle the job of being president of the United States.

Hrafnkell Haraldsson

Hrafnkell Haraldsson, a social liberal with leanings toward centrist politics has degrees in history and philosophy. His interests include, besides history and philosophy, human rights issues, freedom of choice, religion, and the precarious dichotomy of freedom of speech and intolerance. He brings a slightly different perspective to his writing, being that he is neither a follower of an Abrahamic faith nor an atheist but a polytheist, a modern-day Heathen who follows the customs and traditions of his Norse ancestors. He maintains his own blog, A Heathen’s Day, which deals with Heathen and Pagan matters, and Mos Maiorum Foundation www.mosmaiorum.org, dedicated to ethnic religion. He has also contributed to NewsJunkiePost, GodsOwnParty and Pagan+Politics.