While President Trump continues to be plagued by low poll numbers, they didn’t take a nosedive after his widely-panned response to racial violence in Charlottesville last week.
A new ABC News/Washington Post poll shows that 45 percent of Americans say they ‘strongly disapprove’ of the president, more than double the 22 percent who say they ‘strongly approve’ of the job he has done so far.
However, compared to last month, those numbers have hardly moved, with the same survey saying in July that 48 percent of Americans strongly disapprove of the president, and 25 percent strongly approve. The margin of error is 3.5 percent.
Americans panned President Trump’s response to racial violence in Charlottesville, Virginia, but he didn’t lose much of his core support, which still accounts for about 1 in 4 Americans
While 56 percent of Americans said they disapproved of President Trump’s reaction to Charlottesville, which involved comments he made at this Trump Tower press conference, his overall numbers haven’t budged in a month outside the margin of error
More broadly, the ABC News/Washington Post captures that Americans feels strongly about Trump one way or the other, with only 15 percent saying in August they approve of him somewhat, and another 13 percent saying they disapprove of him somewhat.
Those numbers are similar to previous months’ as well.
As other surveys on the subject have already suggested, Americans were generally not impressed by Trump’s handling of the situation in Charlottesville, which left one counter-protester and two police officers dead.
Overall 56 percent of the Americans surveyed said they disapproved of Trump’s response to Charlottesville, with 42 percent saying they strongly disapproved of the president’s reaction.
That’s compared to the 28 percent who said they approved of what Trump did, split into 18 percent saying they strongly approved and another 10 percent saying they somewhat approved.
Americans were asked if Trump had put the neo-Nazis, KKK members and white supremacists on equal footing as their counter-protesting opponents, of which the biggest chunk of respondents said yes.
Forty-two percent said Trump put the racists and the counter-protesters on even standing, while 35 percent said he did not.
Another 23 percent of respondents had no opinion.
Pollsters also asked Americans about their view of the ‘alt-right.’
Fifty percent of respondents said they were opponents, while 10 percent said they supported the alt-right.
As it’s a newer term in American politics, 41 percent said they had no opinion.
Thirty-nine percent of those surveyed said people who support the alt-right hold neo-Nazi and white supremacist views, while 21 percent said alt-right supporters did not.
Another large chunk, 39 percent, held no opinion.
Only 9 percent said it was OK for people to hold white supremacist or neo-Nazi views.
Eighty-three percent of survey respondents found white supremacy and neo-Nazism unacceptable.