Half Of Americans Think Trump Is "Reckless," "Thin-Skinned," & "Sexist"
GOP Senators Bob Corker and Jeff Flake aren't the only ones passing harsh judgment on the behavior of President Donald Trump lately. According to a new poll from news outlet Politico and data-tracking company Morning Consult, over half of Americans surveyed think Trump is reckless, thin-skinned, and sexist. Meanwhile, 45 percent of respondents say the president is racist. The results of the poll were published on Wednesday, Oct. 25.
Kyle Dropp, the co-founder and Chief Research Officer of Morning Consult, gave further insight on the results of the poll, telling Politico,
As we have seen in past polls, most voters, 56 percent, say President Trump is reckless, while 31 percent disagree. Even among Republicans, 33 percent think this is an accurate characterization — notably higher than the percentage of Republicans that disapprove of the president overall, 20 percent.
The poll from Morning Consult and Politico surveyed 1,988 registered voters between Oct. 19 and 23., asking a series of yes-or-no questions.
The responses indicated that over 45 percent of voter surveyed think President Trump is not trustworthy, not a strong leader, not knowledgable, not honest, not compassionate, and not stable. In addition, 50 percent of responses said Trump doesn't keep his promises.
The results of this latest poll come a day after Sen. Jeff Flake — a Republican who represents Arizona — gave a speech on the floor of the U.S. Senate. During the speech, the senator announced that he would not run for reelection in during the 2018 midterm races, but also shared a number of not-so-subtle criticisms of President Trump that mirror the apparent concerns of voters reflected by the poll.
We must never regard as 'normal' the regular and casual undermining of our democratic norms and ideals. We must never meekly accept the daily sundering of our country — the personal attacks, the threats against principles, freedoms, and institutions, the flagrant disregard for truth or decency, the reckless provocations, most often for the pettiest and most personal reasons, reasons having nothing whatsoever to do with the fortunes of the people that we have all been elected to serve.
Flake also linked his decision to not seek another term to a moral obligation. He said on the Senate floor,
The principles that underlie our politics, the values of our founding, are too vital to our identity and to our survival to allow them to be compromised by the requirements of politics. Because politics can make us silent when we should speak, and silence can equal complicity.
I have children and grandchildren to answer to, and so, Mr. President, I will not be complicit.
Earlier on Tuesday, before Flake announced he would not seek reelection, Republican Sen. Bob Corker of Tennessee also delivered harsh criticisms of the president.
Corker said, per CNN,
I think the things that are happening right now that are harmful to our nation, whether it's the breaking down of — we are going to be doing hearings on some of the things that he [Trump] purposely is breaking down — relationships we have around the world that have been useful to our nation. But I think at the end of the day, when his term is over, I think the debasing of our nation, the constant non-truth telling, just the name-calling ... I think the debasement of our nation will be what he'll be remembered most for, and that's regretful.
Critics of Sen. Corker point out that the soon-to-be-retired senator had campaigned with Trump and is now criticizing the president too late. Meanwhile, critics of Flake argue that the he had already been unpopular in Arizona and looked likely to lose a bid for reelection, with recent polls showing low favorably ratings.
Arizona's polls, however, couldn't possibly be much harsher on Flake than the latest Politico poll was on President Trump.
