Fewer Americans Think President Trump Keeps His Promises Poll Shows
As President Trump approaches his 100th day in office, Americans are losing faith in his ability to keep his promises, though his supporters remain firmly behind him. According to a TIME-SurveyMonkey poll conducted last week, just 25 of Americans believe that Trump "keeps his promises," down from 31 in a similar poll in early February. During the campaign, Trump made a number of bold promises for his first 100 days, even releasing a 10-point plan that included repealing the Affordable Care Act, passing tax reform and boosting infrastructure spending. That proved difficult, however, with House Republicans splintering over a health care bill favored by Trump and Speaker Paul Ryan, tax reform delayed until later this year and infrastructure possibly pushed off until next year. At the same time, virtually all respondents who said they voted for Trump approve of his performance as President, with only 3 saying they regret their decision. Conducted between April 18-23, the online survey showed that Trump's struggles in his first months in office have eroded confidence that he can get things done. Just 26 of Americans said that Trump accomplished most or almost all of the things he said he would do in his first 100 days, down from the 40 who expected that he would do so in a similar survey just after his inauguration. As he nears the 100-day markan arbitrary milestone that began under President Franklin Roosevelt in 1933Trump has become more skeptical of the concept, calling it a "ridiculous standard" and an "arbitrary barrier." At the same time, the White House made renewed pushes on funding a border wall, repealing Obamacare and boosting defense spending to try to meet the deadline. Overall, Americans remain almost evenly split on Trump's competence, with 47 saying he is "somewhat" or "very competent," while 49 say he is "not too competent" or "not competent at all." But the number who said Trump is "very competent" slid from 30 in early February to just 22 in the April poll. The poll also showed that Trump continues to struggle with his job approvaljust 47 in this survey, with 52 disapprovingdue to overwhelmingly negative numbers among Democrats and independents. While the Republican base remains largely supportive, Trump's disapproval among Democrats is 87, with virtually all saying they "strongly disapprove" of his performance. Among independents who don't lean toward either party, Trump has a 61 disapproval rating. The survey was conducted of a national sample of 3,912 adults ages 18 and up selected from nearly 3 million people who take polls on the SurveyMonkey platform each day. Data were weighted for age, race, sex, education and geography using the Census Bureau's American Community Survey to reflect U.S. demographics. The modeled error estimate for the survey is plus or minus 2.4 percentage points.