Donald Trump makes remarks at a reception for U.S. senators on March 28th. (Getty)
President Donald Trump’s approval rating remains in the low 40s, but most Americans approve of his recent actions against Syria.
In a new ABC News/Washington Post poll, 51 percent of Americans said they approve of the president’s decision to order missile strikes against an air base in Syria, compared to 40 percent who said they do not approve. This is mainly a partisan divide, with 86 percent of Republicans supporting the strike and 59 percent of Democrats opposing the strike.
However, there were 37 percent of Democrats who said they agree with Trump’s decision to order the missile strikes against Syria. On the other side, only 11 percent of Republicans disagreed with the president’s actions.
Gallup found, though, that Americans’ support for this airstrike is historically low compared to support for prior military actions against other countries. In total, 50 percent of respondents told Gallup they approve of Trump’s strike against Syria. For comparison, in 2014, 60 percent of respondents told Gallup they supported military action against Iraq and Syria, and in 2003, 76 percent of Americans supported taking military action against Iraq. However, in 2011, 47 percent of Americans supported taking military action against Libya.
Gallup’s poll again found that this is a partisan issue, with 82 percent of Republicans being in favor of Trump’s Syria airstrikes and 61 percent of Democrats being against it. Once again, though, there were more Democrats that supported the president than there were Republicans who did not support him.
A third poll, this one from YouGov/TheHuffingtonPost, had roughly the same finding, with 51 percent of Americans saying they support the Syria strike. However, 46 percent of respondents said that the strikes are somewhat or very unlikely to actually deter the use of chemical weapons. Also, only 20 percent of Americans told YouGov that the United States should take any additional military actions against Syria.
Finally, a recent CBS News/The New York Times poll found that a total of 57 percent of Americans approve of Donald Trump’s actions against Syria, compared to 36 percent who do not approve. Among Republicans, 84 percent approve of the airstrikes, and among Democrats, 40 percent approve.
Interestingly, although the majority in this CBS/New York Times poll said that they support Donald Trump’s actions against Syria, 54 percent also said they are “uneasy” about the president’s approach to the situation.
The approval rating of Donald Trump himself has ticked up slightly in recent days, although it’s still historically low compared to past presidents in their first year in office. According to FiveThirtyEight’s approval rating tracker, an average of 41.6 percent of Americans approve of the job Donald Trump is doing in office, compared to 52.4 percent who disapprove.
The most recent poll to be released comes from YouGov, and it was conducted on April 10th and April 11th. In this poll, 40 percent of respondents said that they approve of the job Donald Trump is doing as president, while 50 percent said they do not approve. Another 10 percent said they weren’t sure. The area where Trump has the highest approval rating is terrorism, as 46 percent of Americans said they either strongly or somewhat approve of the job Trump is doing on this front.
Another recent poll comes from CBS/The New York Times. In this one, 43 percent of Americans approve of the job Donald Trump is doing as president, compared to 49 percent who do not approve. Trump has earned the approval of 83 percent of Republicans but just 11 percent of Democrats.