Fox News Poll: Voters' mood sours, 56 percent say Trump tearing country apart

close

Video

Trump sets historic standard for Texas relief effort

The president told first responders on his visit that he has extremely high expectations for them in Harvey's aftermath; Peter Doocy reports on 'Special Report'

Voter satisfaction with the direction of the nation is down by double digits, as a majority says President Donald Trump is tearing the country apart.

That’s according to the latest Fox News Poll.

CLICK HERE TO READ THE FULL POLL RESULTS

The number of voters happy with how things are going in the country is down 10 percentage points since April and stands at just 35 percent. It hasn’t been that low since 2013. At the same time, dissatisfaction jumped to 64 percent -- an 11-point increase.

That shift is not, as is often the case, tied to the economy. Positive views on the economy are higher than in more than a decade: 36 percent say it is in either “excellent” (6 percent) or “good” (30 percent) shape. The last time conditions were rated this positively was August 2004.

The same isn’t true for Trump. His job ratings are increasingly negative -- and 56 percent feel Trump’s “tearing the country apart,” versus 33 percent who say he’s “drawing the country together.”

About two-thirds of Republicans feel Trump is drawing the country together (68 percent), while 15 percent say tearing the country apart and 18 percent are unsure. Nearly all Democrats (93 percent) and over half of independents (59 percent) say Trump is tearing the country apart.

In addition, a record 55 percent of voters disapprove of the job he’s doing as president, while 41 percent approve. That’s a net negative by 14 points and his worst score to-date. In April, around the 100-day mark of the administration, his ratings were at net negative three (45-48 percent). Trump’s first job rating on the Fox News Poll is the only one that’s been in positive territory: 48-47 percent (February 2017).

Since that time he’s lost the most ground with conservatives (down 7 points), Republican men (-9 points), and whites without a college degree (-9 points).

The poll, released Wednesday, was conducted Sunday through Tuesday evenings. Tuesday the president visited Texas to view the state’s flood damage, and earlier that day North Korea launched a missile over Japan.

On North Korea, 42 percent of voters think Trump hasn’t been tough enough -- a significant improvement from 56 percent who felt that way in June.

Despite the latest provocation, concern over war with North Korea is down: 59 percent are extremely or very worried. That was 68 percent last month, after a successful July 4 missile test.

Trump gets his best job ratings on handling the economy (49-43 percent). He also gets positive scores on terrorism (47-45) and Hurricane Harvey (44-26 percent), with the caveat that the poll was conducted mostly before he went to Texas.

He receives net negative ratings on North Korea (43-50), taxes (37-45), immigration (43-54), Russia (35-56), the environment (36-56), and health care (34-60).

His worst marks are on race relations (33-61 percent), where disapproval outweighs approval by 28 points.

Here’s why. Over half don’t think Trump respects racial minorities (56 percent) -- and only about one-third approve of his response to events in Charlottesville (35 percent), where conflicts between neo-Nazi protesters and counter-protesters led to deadly violence.

That violence also led to a series of presidential statements, sharply criticized in the media, in which he condemned neo-Nazis and white supremacists, while adding, “I think there’s blame on both sides.” The poll shows a 52 percent majority of voters blames white supremacists. Far fewer, 17 percent, blame counter-protesters, and 19 percent say “both.”

Many will find this jarring: When asked who poses a greater threat to the United States, nearly as many say the media (40 percent) as say white supremacists (47 percent). Another nine percent say that the threat is “the same.”

Most Trump voters (75 percent) say the news media are the bigger threat. Most Hillary Clinton backers (80 percent) say white supremacists.

Overall, by a 70-13 percent margin, voters think Trump dislikes the media more than white supremacists.

With the controversy heating up across the country, voters by a 2-to-1 margin think Confederate monuments and statues should stay up (61 percent) rather than be taken down (29 percent).

That’s even though more than three times as many have a negative reaction when they see the Confederate flag (36 percent negative vs. 11 percent positive). A majority, 53 percent, says they don’t have a reaction one way or the other.

Forty-three percent of voters think whites are favored over minorities in the United States today, while 23 percent feel minorities are favored over whites. Nearly one-quarter give the unprompted response “neither” (24 percent).

Whites are more likely to feel whites are favored over minorities by 8 points (36-28). Nonwhites feel whites are favored by 54 points (64-10).

Nearly half of Trump voters (45 percent) say minorities are favored over whites (11 percent whites and 34 percent “neither”). Most Clinton voters feel whites are favored (72 percent).

Pollpourri

Virtually all Trump voters (96 percent) and Clinton voters (93 percent) are satisfied with their 2016 vote for president.

Fifty-eight percent of Clinton voters say they’re losing sleep since Trump took office. On the other hand, Trump voters say they’re sleeping better these days (62 percent).

Among all voters, the number losing sleep (31 percent) is mostly matched by those sleeping better (28 percent). Yet the largest portion reports no change to their slumber (40 percent).

By a 58-34 percent margin, voters think Trump will finish his term. An overwhelming majority of Trump voters (92 percent) say he’ll finish. Just 29 percent of Clinton voters agree.

The Fox News poll is based on landline and cellphone interviews with 1,006 randomly chosen registered voters nationwide and was conducted under the joint direction of Anderson Robbins Research (D) and Shaw & Company Research (R) from August 27-29, 2017. The poll has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus three percentage points for all registered voters.